Afghanistan, transport and energy are 3 major concerns of ECO leaders in Ashgabat

November 29,2021

The 15th ECO Summit was chaired by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat , according to a Fars News Agency regional correspondent .

The summit was attended by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

 In his speech at the summit, the President of Turkmenistan emphasized the areas of cooperation within the framework of the organization: The Turkmen side considers the holding of this forum an important event to strengthen cooperation in the economic, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian fields.

The President of Turkmenistan separately mentioned the Turkmenistan-ECO talks, the successful development of friendly relations and good neighborliness with each of the member states of the Organization.

Berdymukhamedov noted the importance of expanding the transport and communications sector: "Turkmenistan considers the development of cooperation in the field of transport and energy to be one of the priorities of the ECO."

He stressed: "Currently, this part of the cooperation will be objectively effective as a determining trend in the growth of the global economy."

The President of Turkmenistan stressed the need to strengthen joint efforts, citing examples of the construction of power lines on the Turkmenistan- Afghanistan -Pakistan route and railways from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan.

He noted that progress in the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is one of these priorities.

He noted that Turkmenistan pays special attention to the activation of transport and transit communications on the east-west and south-north lines. In particular, we consider the creation of transport corridors "Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman" as well as "Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey".

In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan proposed to study the use of logistics and infrastructure in Turkmenistan to activate transport and transit links between the Caspian and Black Sea regions with access to European and Middle Eastern countries and the Asia-Pacific region. .

Berdymukhamedov stressed the importance of Afghanistan's participation in these processes, which will therefore become an active issue, a valuable and integral participant in economic participation in Afghanistan.

In this speech, "Khosrow Nazeri", the Secretary General of ECO, also emphasized: "The current meeting has become an effective platform for deciding on the thematic and key aspects of regional economic cooperation in the ECO space."

He stressed: "Today in the organization, all the conditions for further development of multilateral regional cooperation for socio-economic growth of member countries and also the expansion of effective mutual cooperation in trade, industry, transportation, agriculture, energy, health care, education, science." And culture is provided.

 In a speech, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the continuation of the struggle without any distinction between terrorist organizations.

Regarding Afghanistan's support, Erdogan said: "Afghanistan's economy must be revived to prevent a refugee crisis that will affect our entire region."

"Today I can say that the Zangzur corridor is becoming a reality," said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, referring to the Zangzur corridor. This new transport infrastructure will become an important part of the east-west and north-south corridors.

He stressed: "I am sure that ECO member countries will use this corridor."

In his speech, Kyrgyz President Sadir Jabbarov described ECO's most important task as developing regional infrastructure.

"We must be determined to implement appropriate strategies in the areas of transport and communications, industry, energy, trade and investment, tourism and the environment, which are among the priorities of the economy," he said.

The Kyrgyz president added that the most important task of the organization to successfully solve economic problems is to create and develop regional infrastructure, including a single transport network, telecommunications, pipelines and energy systems, as this is a prerequisite for effective inter-regional and inter-regional cooperation.

Kyrgyzstan, along with other ECO countries, is actively involved in the development of the East-West and North-South transport corridors, Jabbarov noted. This will allow Central Asian countries to reach the Persian Gulf via Turkmenistan and Iran.

In addition, Kyrgyzstan attaches great importance to improving the railway project "Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - China" believes that echo in the work plan for the development of transport and communications included in the ECO region.

"Kyrgyzstan is actively working to increase the transit potential of the transport corridor on the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran route through the port of Shahid Rajaee," Jabbarov concluded.

In a speech to expand trade co-operation within the ECO, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon suggested that specific measures be taken to remove quarantine restrictions on transport and transit, as well as tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. 

He also analyzed the level of cooperation between ECO member countries in the fields of trade, transport and communications, energy, industry, agriculture, environmental protection and food security, and stressed the importance of expanding relations and implementing joint programs and projects. .

Rahman stressed: The member countries of this organization have a lot of human and natural resources as well as very good opportunities in the field of energy, transportation and communications.

 According to the President of Tajikistan, the joint and effective use of these capacities can be aimed at increasing prosperity and creating favorable conditions for mutual trade, free movement of people, transportation and transit, as well as strengthening peace, stability and security in the region.

He supported the creation of a regional energy market, calling the implementation of the CASA-1000 high-pressure transmission line the first energy bridge between Central and South Asia and a timely step.

Rehman noted climate change, disaster risk reduction and disaster as an important task of the organization and expressed hope that Tajikistan's proposals to declare 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Protection and the designation of World Glacier Day, as well as the creation of the International Glacier Fund in ECO. Be supported.

"We need to make more use of the significant potential of our countries, which have a large market with a population of 500 million," Uzbek President Shukat Mirziyoyev told the summit, referring to the need for up-to-date and comprehensive trade.

The in-house agreement of this document should include issues of removing trade barriers, digitizing customs procedures, and introducing e-commerce.

The President of Uzbekistan proposed to declare 2022 the year of strengthening communication in ECO.

Mirziyoyev also invited participants to attend the next summit in Uzbekistan, which will chair ECO in 2022.

Translated from Persian from http://fna.ir/5eevz