The 30h Meeting of the Regional Planning Council (RPC) has been started on 14 January 2020 in ECO Secretariat, Tehran. The delegates from all the Member States, Council of Turkic Speaking States, as observer, and the ECO Specialized Agencies and Regional Institutions attended the opening ceremony of the meeting.
The opening ceremony started with a short welcoming statement by the ECO Secretary General, Dr. Hadi Soleimanpor. In his statement, the Secretary General welcomed Heads of delegations from the ECO Member States and other participants. Then he briefed the Council on the activities and programmes of the Secretariat during the course of the last year. He particularly underlined the progress on the organizational reforms to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Organization, and readjustment in the Organization's top management system and organizational chart according to the priorities specified by the Vision. He also emphasized the importance of the reorientation of the organization towards a project oriented one and acknowledgement of the 24th ECO Council of Ministers, held in November 9, 2019, Antalya, Turkey, and its support to this approach.
The ECO Secretary General then invited Honourable Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Dr. Gholam Reza Ansari for his inaugural statement. In his statement, H.E. Ansari highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation and tapping the trade potential of the region referring to the figures in the recent study of the Secretariat in this regard.
Then the representative of the Republic of Turkey, assumed the chairmanship of the RPC and H.E. Mr. Hayri Maraإںlؤ±oؤںlu made his opening statement emphasizing the importance of regional economic cooperation and the Turkey's willingness to implement new projects in line with the new approach of the Secretariat.
Heads of the delegations took the floor afterwards and made their statements, emphasizing needs for increasing regional cooperation and adopting the work program and calendar of events during the meeting in a realistic way to reflect the needs of the Organization.
The RPC meeting will continue its work until 16 January 2020. It is one of the most important organs of the ECO that meets every year to review the performance of the year past and to chart its course for the year to come.
