Tashkent – May 22, 2025
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) successfully convened the 3rd Meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the Trade Facilitation Agreement on 22 May 2025, in Tashkent, hosted by the Republic of Uzbekistan in a hybrid format. Senior customs and trade officials from ECO Member States met to start technical discussions on a region-wide Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The meeting was attended by delegates from the Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Türkiye, and Republic of Uzbekistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
In his welcome address, Mr. Zahid Hussain Abbasi, Director of Trade & Investment at the ECO Secretariat, reiterated the importance of trade facilitation as a “strategic imperative” for transforming the regional economic landscape. He highlighted the recent finalization of the ECO Trade Facilitation Strategy at the 2nd JWG Meeting in Ankara, to be formally adopted at the 10th Meeting of the ECO Council of Heads of Customs Administration (CHCA) in Tehran on 28 May 2025.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Feruzbek Kurbonov, Head of the International Legal Support Division, Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Republic of Uzbekistan. In his remarks, Mr. Kurbonov emphasized the need to create “a trade ecosystem that is faster, smarter, fairer, and more inclusive,” reflecting ECO’s ambition to streamline procedures, ensure transparency, and promote customs interoperability across the region.
The outcomes of this meeting will feed into the 5th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Commerce and Foreign Trade, scheduled for 25 June 2025 in Istanbul.
