5th Ministerial Meeting on Commerce and Foreign Trade (EMFT)

Ministerial Meetings on Commerce and Foreign Trade (EMFT) serves as one of the central fora aiming at promotion of trade and investment in the ECO region. This forum provides directions for enhancing ECO trade cooperation, developing policy guidelines for future developments based on the review of ongoing programs and projects, etc. So far four EMFT have been held; the last one was held on 11-13 July, 2011 in Kabul, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The 4th meeting reviewed the ECO initiatives and activities with regard to trade, investment, finance, customs and visa simplification and also took note of the delay in implementation of the tariff concession under ECOTA, urging upon the contracting parties to remove trade impediments for its accelerated implementation. The meeting also established separate Working Groups to prepare and finalize a ‘Multi Dimensional Regional Trade and Investment Strategy and Action Plan on the Prospects of Establishing Free Trade Area in the Region' and to finalize draft of 'ECO Trade Facilitation Agreement'. Furthermore, the Meeting appreciated the offer of the Republic of Turkey to prepare the draft of the ‘Regional Agreement on Organizing Joint Trade Promotional Activities’.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has announced to hold the meeting on 10th October 2018 at Islamabad. It will be preceded by Senior Official Meeting (SOM) on 9th October 2018.