ECO holds 32nd Meeting of Regional Planning Council

The 32^nd Meeting of the ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC) was held on January 17-26, 2022 in hybrid format. The Representatives of the ECO Member States, ECO Regional Institutes, Specialized Agencies, Affiliated Bodies as well as ECO Observers participated in the event.

The ECO Secretary General, Amb. Khusrav Noziri while welcoming the participants highlighted the significance of RPC in consideration of its essentially important role of analyzing and evaluating the Organization’s ongoing activities as well as considering and developing some new projects and programs to be implemented to shoulder, support and continue the regional development process. Referring to the situation emerged in the aftermath of COVID-19, he noted that it was highly exigent for the ECO to plow ahead with its cooperative agenda for the continuity of regional development process. Despite the post-pandemic challenges, the Organization managed to convene several important meetings in 2021, both in virtual/hybrid and physical formats.

Moreover, the Secretary General congratulated the Republic of Uzbekistan for assuming the Organization’s Chairmanship for 2022, assuring his complete support and cooperation to ensure the implementation of any initiatives by Uzbekistan which are aimed at maintaining and accelerating the Organization’s performance for smooth socioeconomic progress in the region.

In his statement, the Chairman of 32^nd RPC Meeting Mr. Ashraf Khodjaev, Director of the Department of Economic Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan expressing deep pleasure over the first-time assumption of ECO’s Chairmanship by the Republic of Uzbekistan, assured that his country is well-determined to effectively meet the assigned responsibility for further strengthening regional cooperation within the ECO framework.

Referring to the objectives of ECO Vision 2025, the Chairman underlined that Uzbekistan considers it fundamentally important to practically exploit the existing regional potential and the available opportunities for the shared progress and prosperity of the entire ECO Region, particularly, in the fields of trade, transport, energy, investment and tourism.

He recalled that a number of proposals to contribute to the development of multilateral partnership were propounded by the Honourable President of the Republic of Uzbekistan during 15^th Summit, for ensuring sustainable socioeconomic progress in the ECO Region. In particular, the Uzbekistan side proposed the 2022 to be declared as the “Year of Strengthening Connectivity”, he added

Heads of delegation of the Member States, as well as ECO Observers also delivered their statements during the meeting, focusing on an increased collaboration to meet the conditions taking place in the aftermath of COVID-19.

While reviewing sector-wise activities of the Organization, the Meeting took into account the ECO priority areas of development, including (i) Trade & Investment; (ii) Transport & Communication; (iii) Energy, Minerals & Environment; (iv) Agriculture & Industry; (v) Tourism (vi) Economic Research & Statistics; (vii) Human Resources & Sustainable Development; (viii) Judicial & Parliamentary Coordination and ECO Advocacy Program for Afghanistan; (ix) ECO Regional Institutions/Specialized Agencies/Affiliated Bodies and International Relations.

In the plenary session, the Council adopted the Report of the Meeting, Work Program and Calendar of Events, containing the Organization’s activities to be implemented in the year 2022.