ECO Parliamentarians Moot Unanimously, Adopt Charter To Establish PAECO

Islamabad, Sept 6, IRNA – A two-day meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) parliamentarians on Wednesday unanimously adopted a charter to establish Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO). Member of Iranian Parliament, Mehdi Sanaie, Secretary General of ECO, Shamil Aleskerov, along with the Parliamentarians of ECO member states participated in the meeting on the invitation of Pakistani Speaker of National Assembly Fehmida Mirza. The charter passed by Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) parliamentarians meeting would be formally presented before the meeting of Council of ECO Ministers to be held in October, 2012 in Azerbaijan for approval. The establishment of PAECO is an initiative of Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly on the pattern of SAARC Speaker's Forum and Parliamentary Union of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (PUOIC). It was agreed in the charter that the proposed parliamentary forum would be named as “Parliamentary Assembly of the ECO Countries (PAECO) with its permanent Secretariat to be established in Islamabad. The funding of the Secretariat would be borne by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The proposal of National Assembly of Pakistan for hosting the first General Conference of the proposed Parliamentary Assembly of ECO Countries was well taken by the all the Parliamentarians and was decided that National Assembly of Pakistan will host the first General Conference of PAECO in December, 2012 in Islamabad. T In the concluding session head of Pakistani delegation Arif Aziz Sheikh announced the adoption the charter. After the session Sectary General of ECO, Shamil Aleskerov expressed gratitude to Pakistan for hosting the meeting. He also thanked Dr. Fehmida Mirza for taking the initiative of Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization. Head of Iranian delegation Mehdi Sanaie also thanked government of Pakistan for providing support to the ECO meeting. Expressing his views the Iranian lawmaker said that the ECO environment is very important in different aspects. “Establishment of Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization is very meaningful and would give fruitful result in region,” said member of Iran’s National Security Committee. He also thanked Fehmida Mirza for introducing the idea of Parliamentary Assembly of ECO. On the occasion Mehdi Sanaie presented an ECO tourist guide published by the ECO cultural institute to the head of Pakistani delegation as a token of appreciation. The meeting of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) parliamentarians was held at the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS). Talking to IRNA Mehdi Sanaie urged the ECO members to devise a common strategy to counter western hegemonic policies “Our recommendations regarding formation of Parliamentary Association of Economic Cooperation Organization have also been accepted,” he said. The Iranian lawmaker termed the establishment of PAECO as very important development. He was hopeful that Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO) would make the region stronger. Economic Cooperation Organization 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. It was the successor organization of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1964, which ended activities in 1979. In the fall of 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new members, namely Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan./end