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.

The 28th Meeting of the Regional Planning Council (RPC), which had started on 11 December 2017, concluded its work in Islamabad when the Ministerial segment of the Council adopted the outcome documents on 14th December 2017.

The 28th Meeting of the Regional Planning Council (RPC) has been started on 11 December 2017 in Islamabad. The delegates from all the Member States, observers (Turkish Cypriot State and Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States) and the ECO Specialized Agencies and Regional Institutions attended the opening ceremony of the meeting.

The 2nd Meeting of the Ministers of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) of the ECO Member States was held on 5th December 2017 in Baku. The Meeting was attended by high level delegations from Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkey and Turkmenistan. Delegation from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) headed by H.E. Mr. Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary General also attended the Meeting.

The “Third Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3)” was convened on 4-6 December 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya under the overarching theme “Towards a Pollution-Free Planet”. UNEA-3 brought together over 4,300 delegates, including heads of state, ministers and other delegates from more than 170 Member States, UN officials, inter-governmental organizations, business leaders, civil society representatives, activists and celebrities.

The Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Ambassador Halil Ibrahim Akca, represented the Organization in the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process held on 1st of December 2017 in Baku. The Conference was inaugurated by H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, Honourable President of Republic of Azerbaijan.

The International Energy Charter (IEC) and the Government of Turkmenistan in its capacity as the Chair of the Energy Charter Conference in 2017 jointly organized the 28th Energy Charter Conference (ECC) on 28-29 November 2017 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. ECC is the governing and decision-making body of the Energy Charter Process, having the IGO status, which bring together both the new and the existing member countries of the Energy Charter and provides opportunity for mobilizing support towards the full implementation of the principles of the Energy Charter.

The 33rd Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation was held in Istanbul on November 20-23, 2017.

The 23rd Executive Committee Meeting of the ECO-Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI) was inaugurated by H.E. Mr. Lütfi Elvan, Honourable Minister of Development and H.E. Mr. Bülent Tüfenkci, Honourable Minister of Customs and Trade of the Republic of Turkey on 17 November 2017 which was hosted by the Union of the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).

A bilateral Meeting between ECO Secretary General H.E. Mr. Halil Ibarahim Akca and H.E. Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was held on 15 November 2017 on the margins of the 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA-VII) in Ashgabat. The purpose of the talks was to review the latest status of the preparations for 28th ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC) to be attended by the ministers of economy/planning of the ECO Member States. The RPC meeting is scheduled for 11-14 December 2017 in Islamabad.