DUSHANBE, October 18, 2008, Asia-Plus — Chairman of the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs Maliksho Nematov has left for Tehran, Iran to attend a session of tourism ministers from member nations of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) that will be held there on October 20.
Iran”s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization will host the ECO ministerial meeting. The ECO experts’ session will be held on Sunday and senior tourist experts from eight Eco member states will attend this session.
Establishment of ECO fund, publishing ECO tourist book, facilitating visa issuance to tourists from ECO states, ECO tourism and promotion of tourism exchanges, and regional tourism cooperation are among major topics to be discussed by the ECO experts and ministers.
According to the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs, during his three-day visit to Tehran, Nematov is scheduled to hold talks with deputy head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and representatives of Iran’s Sports Committee.
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the Member States.
ECO is the successor organization of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which remained in existence since 1964 up to 1979.
In 1992, the Organization was expanded to include seven new members, namely: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The date of the Organization’s expansion to its present strength, November 28, is being observed as the ECO Day.
Over the past 12 years the member states have been collaborating to accelerate the pace of regional development through their common endeavors. Besides shared cultural and historic affinities, they have been able to use the existing infrastructural and business links to further fortify their resolve to transfer their hopes and aspirations into a tangible reality. ECO has embarked on several projects in priority sectors of its cooperation including energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control.
Current Membership: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
