The Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO is a Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities. The ECO is an ad hoc organisation under the United Nations Charter.United Nations Charter (Chapter VIII). The objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ECO expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in 1992.
The current framework of the ECO expresses itself mostly in the form of bilateral agreements and arbitration mechanisms between individual and fully sovereign member states. Similar to ASEAN, the ECO maintains dedicated secretariats and administrative bodies to coordinate trade among its member states. Regional initiatives include cross-border agricultural collaboration across the historically integrated Fergana Valley between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as multimodal transit via the Ashgabat Agreement and the Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. Bilateral initiatives also focus on regional energy corridors, including the Tabriz–Ankara pipeline and proposed projects such as the TAPI and Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline, intended to move Central Asian energy to industrial hubs across Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.
The ECO's Secretariat and ECO Cultural Institute are based in Iran, the ECO Trade and Development Bank and ECO Educational Institute are located in Turkey, and the ECO Science Foundation is in Pakistan.
History The Economic Cooperation Organization was the successor organisation of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1964, which ended activities in 1979. In 1985, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey joined to form the ECO.
By late 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new member states: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The date of this expansion, 28 November, is recognized as "ECO Day". The organization continues to address structural challenges, primarily the need to modernize infrastructure and regulatory institutions to utilize regional resources and facilitate sustainable economic growth.
The Economic Cooperation Organisation Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was signed on 17 July 2003 in Islamabad. The ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) was established in Iran in 2009 to promote intra-regional commerce, with member states initially targeting the establishment of a common trade market by 2015.
Official names The official working language of the Economic Cooperation Organization is English. The official names of the organization are:
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Objectives and principles Objectives Sustainable economic development of member states Progressive removal of trade barriers and promotion of intra-regional trade Integration of the ECO region's economy into global markets Development of transport and communications infrastructure connecting member states with one another and global transit corridors Economic liberalization and privatization Mobilization and utilization of regional natural, agricultural, and industrial resources Regional cooperation in environmental protection, drug abuse control, and cultural exchange Beneficial cooperation with regional and international organizations
Principles Sovereign equality of member states and mutual benefit Alignment of national development plans with regional ECO objectives Joint initiatives to expand access to international markets for member states' raw materials and manufactured products Common coordination toward regional and multilateral economic agreements
Membership Full members
Name Population(2023, millions) Area Populationdensity GDP(2023, nominal,US$ billions) GDP per capita(2023, nominal, US$) GDP(2023, PPP,Int$ billions) GDP per capita(2023, PPP, Int$) 32.2 million 14.467 422.229 72.512 2,116.334 10.1 million 76.639 7,525.428 189.273 18,585.191 88.3 million 403.526 4,662.520 1,752.856 20,253.297 22.4 million 260.510 13,116.815 656.669 33,063.603 6.8 million 12.775 1,843.190 44.925 6,481.606 231.5 million 338.237 1,460.740 1,572.439 6,790.873 9.7 million 11.855 1,183.908 54.497 5,442.597 83.2 million 1,108.453 12,849.005 3,628.742 42,063.743 7.1 million 77.106 11,833.107 124.257 19,069.183 35.5 million 90.882 2,522.757 372.987 10,353.57910 total 566.8 million 2.61 trillion 3,726.922 8.83 trillion 12,990.954
Observers
Organization of Turkic States International Energy Charter
Structure Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers (COM) is the highest policy and decision-making body and is composed of the various Ministers of Foreign Affairs or such other representatives of the ministerial rank as may be designated by the respective governments. The COM meets at least once a year by rotation among the member states.
Council of Permanent Representatives The Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) consists of the Permanent Representatives/Ambassadors of the member states accredited to the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as to the ECO and the Director-General for ECO Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Regional Planning Council The Regional Planning Council (RPC) is composed of the Heads of the Planning Organizations of member states or other representatives of corresponding authorities.
ECO Secretariat The ECO Secretariat consists of six directorates and six sections in the ECO Secretariat staffed by professionals working in the relevant areas of regional economic cooperation. Each directorate is headed by a director while each section is run by a head of section. There are also several programme officers and research officers working in each directorate of the Secretariat.
Directorate of Trade and Investment (DTI) Directorate of Transport and Communications (DTC) Directorate of Energy, Minerals, and Environment (DEME) Directorate of Tourism (DT) Directorate of Agriculture and Industry (DAI) Directorate of Human Resources and Sustainable Development (DHRSD)
Activities Activities of ECO are conducted through directorates under the supervision of the Secretary-General and his Deputies which consider and evolve projects and programs of mutual benefit in the fields of: Trade and Investment Transport and Communications Energy, Minerals and Environment Agriculture and Industry Tourism Human Resources & Sustainable
Summits and general secretaries
Heads of State summits Meeting Date(s) Country Location1st 1617 February 1992 Tehran2nd 67 May 1993 Istanbul3rd 14-15 May 1995 Islamabad4th 14 May 1996 Ashgabat5th11 May 1998 Almaty6th 10 June 2000 Tehran7th 14 October 2002 Istanbul8th 14 September 2004 Dushanbe9th 5 May 2006 Baku10th 11 March 2009 Tehran11th 23 December 2010 Istanbul12th 16 October 2012 Baku13th 1 March 2017 Islamabad14th 4 March 2021 Ankara15th 28 November 2021 Ashgabat16th89 November 2023Tashkent17th34 July 2025Khankendi18th2027TBA
List of general secretaries No. Name Nationality Period 1 Alireza Salari August 1988 July 1992 2 Shamshad Ahmad August 1992 July 1996 3 August 1996 July 2000 4 August 2000 July 2002 5 Seyed Mojtaba Arastou August 2002 July 2003 6 Bekzhassar Narbayev August 2003 January 2004 7 Askhat Orazbay February 2004 July 2006 8 Khurshid Anwar August 2006 July 2009 9 Yahya Maroofi August 2009 July 2012 10 Shamil Alaskerov August 2012 July 2015 11 Halil Ibrahim Akca August 2015 July 2018 12 Hadi Soleimanpour August 20182021 13 Khusrav Noziri August 20212024 14 Asad Majeed Khan August 2024sourceECO Secretaries General
Regional Institutions & Agencies
ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry ECO-CCI was established on 10 June 1993. Its objectives are to contribute to enhancing economic cooperation and relations in trade, industry, agriculture, tourism, contracting, engineering and banking sectors as well as to realize joint investments among the Member States. National Chambers of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey are members of ECO-CCI. The 7th General Assembly Meeting of ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI) was held on 20 April 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The participating member states offered some proposals for developing new mechanisms and modalities for better interaction between member chambers and to re-activate ECO-CCI.
ECO Reinsurance Company In March 1995, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey agreed to establish ECO Reinsurance Company. The purpose is to supplement the existing reinsurance services in the region, promote the growth of the national underwriting and retention capacities, minimize the outflow of foreign exchange from the region, and support economic development in the region. The three-member countries decided to form a Trilateral Interim Committee to pave the way for the establishment of this important institution. The Trilateral Interim Committee, in its various meetings, reviewed the relevant issues such as the development of the business plan and signing of the Articles of Agreement already finalized by a group of Experts from the three founding member countries.
ECO Consultancy & Engineering Company Governments of all the ECO Member States have established a central resource pool in the shape of ECO Consultancy and Engineering Company (Pvt.) Ltd., or ECO-CEC, to assist in the development projects sponsored by the ECO Member States or by its Trade and Development Bank. The founding States are the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Republic of Turkey which holds an equal share in ECO-CEC, Turkey being represented by two companies and Iran and Pakistan, by one each. The Iranian and Turkish Companies specialize mainly in oil and gas pipelines, refineries, petrochemical and industrial engineering, while the Pakistani partner operates in all other fields of development engineering, including communications, power, urban development public health, telecommunications, water resources development and agriculture. ECO-CEC provides its expertise in the entire range of consultancy operations, starting from conception, project planning and appraisal, through pre-feasibility, feasibility and financial studies, investigation and exploration, site selection to engineering design, material and equipment specifications, construction supervision, contract management, quality control and preparation of technical manuals for the operation and maintenance of the projects.
ECO Trade and Development Bank
The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) was established in August 2005, following the ratification of its Articles of Agreement signed in March 1995 by the three founding members of ECO, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Republic of Turkey. The ETDB became fully operational in November 2008, and was joined by Afghanistan in 2012, Azerbaijan in 2013, and the Kyrgyz Republic in 2015. Its headquarters are in Istanbul (Turkey), and representative offices are in Karachi (Pakistan) and Tehran (Iran). The primary objective of the Bank is to provide financial resources for projects and programmes in member countries. The Bank offers a range of medium-to-long-term products, i.e., project finance, corporate finance, trade finance, and loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises directly or through financial intermediaries to private and state-owned entities. As of 2023, the paid-in capital of the ETDB stood at SDR 326,750 thousand, while its authorised capital was of SDR 1,089,100 thousand.
ECO Cultural Institute (ECI)