ECO: Economic Cooperation Organisation, all you want to know
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Briefing the journalists about the background of the ECO, Sartaj Aziz said its headquarters are located in Tehran. Ambassador Halil Ibrahim Akca (Turkish National) is the current Secretary General of Economic Cooperation Organization.
He said ECO consists of 4 principal organs; the Council of Ministers (COM); the Regional Planning Council (RPC); the Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR); and the Secretariat.
He informed that ECO Summit of Heads of States/Governments of member States, is held biennially and provides the Organization an overarching strategic guideline as well as political support.
The last (Twelfth) Summit was held in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 16, 2012, he added.
The Council of Ministers (COM) is the highest policy and decision-making body of ECO and is composed of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States. It meets once a year by rotation, in one of the Member States.
The Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) is composed of Tehran based Ambassadors of Member States accredited to ECO.
It meets once a month and oversees the working of the Secretariat and takes day-to-day decisions relating to the Organization on behalf of the COM. 217th CPR meeting was held on 23rd January 2017.
The Regional Planning Council (RPC) is composed of the Heads of Planning Organizations of Member States and meets at least once a year prior to the annual meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The last RPC Meeting (27th) was held in the ECO Secretariat Tehran, Iran from 5-8 December 2016.
About the ECO Specialized Agencies, he said the ECO Cultural Institute (ECI) is based at Tehran, Iran; ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) at Islamabad, Pakistan; ECO Educational Institute (ECOEI) at Ankara, Turkey; ECO Educational Institute (ECOEI) at Ankara, Turkey; ECO Consultancy & Engineering Company (ECO-CEC) at Lahore, Pakistan; ECO College of Insurance (ECOCI) at Tehran, Iran.
ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ECO-IEST) is situated at Karaj, Iran; ECO Postal Staff College at Islamabad, Pakistan; ECO Seed Association (ECOSA) at Ankara, Turkey; ECO Regional Centre for Risk Management of Natural Disasters at Mashhad, Iran; ECO Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) for the Implementation of the Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS) situated at Ankara, Turkey.
ECO Trade Development Bank (ECOTDB) with headquarters located in Istanbul, Turkey and Two representative offices have been established in Tehran (2009) and Karachi (2010). ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI) as per agreed formula, the location of the Secretariat of ECO-CCI is rotated among the members. Presently, it is located in Karachi, Pakistan.
ECO Reinsurance Company would be established following the ratification by Turkey and payment of full subscription of share capital by the three contracting member countries.
