In a high level ceremony, the “ECO Day 2017” was celebrated on 14 December 2017 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Event, attended by high ranking officials from the host country, ECO Member States, ECO Secretariat and agencies, as well as regional and international organizations, was honored by presence of H.E. Mr. Mamnoon Hussain, honourable President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan who also addressed the audience.
ECO Secretary General Ambassador Halil Ibrahim Akca and H.E. Mr. Sartaj Aziz, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of Pakistan made welcoming remarks in the ceremony.
“28th November” each year is commemorated as the “ECO Day” by ECO Secretariat and the Member States, usually at the ECO premises in Tehran. “ECO Day” is celebrated on the date of the adoption of the “Protocol amending the Treaty of Izmir” signed on 28th November 1992. The Protocol was meant to adjust the relevant “Treaty” provisions in the light of expansion of the Organization to 7 more countries, namely, Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Although the “ECO Day” is celebrated to mark ECO enlargement from a 3-country to a 10-country organization in early 1990s, the years to be commemorated as “ECO” begins from 1985 when the three founding Members (Iran, Pakistan and Turkey) of “Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD)” decided to rename their organization as “Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)”. This was later incorporated in the Izmir Treaty through “Protocol amending the Treaty of Izmir” done on 18 June 1990.
The “ECO Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR)” had decided to organize the “ECO Day 2017” on the sidelines of the 28th meeting of the “ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC)” in Islamabad.
