Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is arriving here on Thursday to attend a two-day 9th summit of the Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO) aimed at putting up tangible proposals to reinvigorate the body.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be holding bilateral talks with several leaders from the ten ECO member states, on the sidelines of the summit.
During the summit Pakistan is to present a strategy on ways and priorities to enhance economic ties among the member states. It will share its experiences and best practices with the ECO states and call for strengthening the organisation for the benefit of the people of the region.
The summit will focus on economic issues, regional, energy projects and security matters. The Iranian nuclear issue is likely to be one of the key topics of discussions as use of force can have an adverse impact on the economic growth activities in the Eurasian region.
Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmoud Kasuri arrived in Baku on Wednesday to attend the meeting of 16th ECO Board of Foreign Ministers ahead of the summit. Iran and Afghanistan are expected to be represented by their presidents, Turkey and Kazakhstan by its prime ministers and Uzbekistan by its parliament speaker. Azerbaijan is hosting the summit in its capacity as Chairman of ECO.
The ECO was established in 1985 as a trilateral organisation of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which during its nascent days was known as the Regional Co-operation for Development (RCD-1964 to 1979).
IN 1992, THE ORGANIZATION WAS EXPANDED TO INCLUDE SEVEN NEW MEMBERS: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The organisation seeks to promote multi dimensional regional co-operation and to create conditions for sustained socio-economic growth in the member states.
The 8th summit of ECO in Dushanbe on September 14, 2004 finalised an agreement for a Free Trade Area and will review the progress during the 9th summit, besides taking up progress on ECO Vision 2015.
The ECO region is seen as having bright trading prospects however it faces un-daunting challenges as the region lacks appropriate infrastructure and institutions which the Organisation is seeking to develop.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who will be visiting the country for the first time, since assuming charge of his office and will meet Prime Minister Artur Rasizade to discuss matters of mutual interest.
Azerbaijan's number one export is oil. A consortium of Western oil companies is scheduled to begin pumping 1 million barrels a day from a large offshore field in 2006, through a $4 billion pipeline it built from Baku to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Economists estimate that by 2010 revenues from this project will double the country's current GDP.
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