The High Level Expert Group Meeting to finalize the “Draft Plan of Action on Elimination of Covid-19 Pandemic Consequences in the Tourism Sector for Facilitating Recovery in the ECO Region”

The High Level Expert Group Meeting to finalize the “Draft Plan of Action on Elimination of Covid-19 Pandemic Consequences in the Tourism Sector for Facilitating Recovery in the ECO Region” was organized in virtual format on 28 June 2022 under the chairmanship of ECO Secretariat. The meeting was attended by delegates from the ECO Member States’ representatives from Tourism Ministries including Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan.

In his inaugural remarks, Deputy Secretary General ECO, Ambassador Mr. Jandos Asanov informed that 15^th summit of ECO the Member States urged to take speedy measures in coping with serious challenges of the ECO tourism industry arising from Covid-19 pandemic in line with other regional and global post-COVID initiatives. He further highlighted the significance of the “Draft Plan of Action on Elimination of Covid-19 Pandemic Consequences in the Tourism Sector for Facilitating Recovery in the ECO Region” which was prepared by the Secretariat to be used as a general framework for cooperation in tourism sector among the Member States.

DSG Asanov, further highlighted that the 4^th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Tourism is scheduled to be held in Bukhara, Uzbekistan in the 4^th quater of 2022 and the meeting will discuss various initiatives in the areas of transport connectivity, marketing and branding, visa facilitation, improving quality and standards in tourism services, multi-seasonal product development and cooperation among the public and private tourism authorities and local community and it is expected to adopt the “Plan of Action on Elimination of Covid-19 Pandemic Consequences in the Tourism Sector for Facilitating Recovery in the ECO Region”.

The participants discussed the draft para by para and agreed to amend the title of the document to “Road Map on Facilitating Accelerated Recovery, Safe and Sustainable Development of Tourism after “Covid-19″ in the ECO Region” based on content of the document and ongoing recovery process of Covid-19 pandemic.

While discussing human resources and tourism capacity development in the region, the representative of the Republic of Türkiye offered their cooperation and mentioned that they will consider organizing trainings for ECO Member States.
The participants agreed on the final document with the contributions of the participating Member States of ECO for further adoption by the 4^th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Tourism scheduled to be held in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.