BISHKEK (TCA) — On March 1, Islamabad, Pakistan hosted a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), whose member nations pledged to collectively fight terrorism and boost regional cooperation in trade, energy, and infrastructure.
The Economic Cooperation Organization was founded by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey in 1985. It now also includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
“There has never been a more opportune time to realize our dreams of connectivity for regional prosperity,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said at the summit.
“We are determined to collectively face challenges such as extremism, terrorism, and drug trafficking in order to realize our vision of making the region a zone of peace and prosperity,” he said. “We have committed ourselves to working together for bringing progressive change to the lives of the people in our region, transforming it into a bastion of peace, progress, and prosperity.”
Speaking at the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Asia is to take the lead from the rest of the world in economic supremacy from the second half of the 21st century onwards, Iran’s PressTV news agency reported.
“The world economy’s heart is to beat in Asia from the second half of the present century,” Rouhani said. “Emerging Asian economies will be changing the course of the world economy from the West toward the East. This change will turn the 21st century into the century of Asia’s supremacy.”
Rouhani also said that the ECO region is the shortest and most economical course for trade and transportation from Europe to the rest of Asia.
