ECO Secretary General Participates in the 19th Annual Meeting of the ECO Trade Development Bank

An ECO delegation headed by H.E. Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization participated in the Plenary Session of the 19^th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the ECO Trade and Development Bank held on September 30, 2020. On the onset of his statement, Dr. Soleimanpour requested the event’s participants for observing a one-minute silence to recite the “Surah Fatiha” for the Azeri martyrs who sacrificed their lives to defend the proud Azerbaijani people and their land, as well as to maintain the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country.

While delivering his statement, the ECO Secretary General congratulated and thanked the bank’s management for financing the ECO’s priority projects and supporting the monetary needs of the Member States. Acknowledging the commendable contribution of ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) to foster and shoulder the process of development and prosperity in the region, he desired the ETDB to study and introduce a proper method of supporting and implementing the projects planned and patronized by ECO Secretariat, saving and increasing the bank capacity and assets under a proper payback guarantee mechanism.

Referring the negative repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on the region’s economy, Dr. Soleimanpour underscored the need of ETDB’s closer and meaningful collaboration with other regional and international financial institutions in a bid to make accelerated and collective efforts to effectively save the region’s community from undesired consequences of COVID-19 and the post-pandemic affects. In the given context, the ECO Secretariat approached some prominent regional and international financial institution, seeking their collaborative engagements with ETDB for the overall betterment of the region in the wake of the pandemic, the ECO Secretary General mentioned.

Dr. Soleimanpour further conveyed that the ECO had launched studies on trade facilitation to enhance trade through removing Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs), including non-tariff barriers, para-tariff barriers etc., and by saving cost and time involved in the trade transactions. He encouraged the ETDB to join the efforts in materializing the projects to be identified and recommended in the launched studies. Such projects would play a significant role in the uplift and welfare of the region’s community, accelerating the process of overall development and growth in the mutual interest of the Member States, the ECO Secretary General noted.

The event’s proceedings commenced with welcome remarks by the ETDB’s honourable President, H.E. Mr. Yalçؤ±n Yüksel, and the statement by honourable Governor State Bank of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Raza Baqir, Chairman of the ETDB’s Board of Governors, who while applauding the role of ETDB stressed the need for an expanded and greater regional economic cooperation to offset the adverse effects of COVID-19, desiring the Board to make effective decisions for further promoting the activities of the Bank.