Vice-Chairman, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov at a government meeting last Friday reported to the President of Turkmenistan on the preparations for the 15th Summit of Heads of State of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which is scheduled to be held in Ashgabat on November 28 this year.

 As R. Meredov said, at the XIV ECO Summit, Turkmenistan assumed the chairmanship in the Organization. Thus a corresponding Concept was developed.  As part of its implementation, a number of ministerial meetings had been held to date.

 In June, the 4th meeting of the energy ministers and the 5th meeting of the heads of the national statistical institutions of the ECO member countries are envisaged. Currently, preparations are underway for the events scheduled for the second half of this year, as Meredov said.

 The issues of preparation for the upcoming Ashgabat Summit of the ECO Heads of State in November were discussed during a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization held on June 16.

 In order to hold the forum at a high level, relevant proposals have been developed, including to ensure its broad information support, to prepare, together with the ECO Secretariat, the program, agenda and draft final documents of the Summit.  In this regard, it is envisaged to create an Organizing Commission consisting of the heads of ministries and sectoral departments of our country.

 Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, noting that over the past years, Turkmenistan and the ECO have accumulated solid experience of interaction, emphasized the consolidating essence of the Organization as a format of economic partnership of states united geographically, historically, by common cultural traditions and spiritual values.

 “Based on these obvious advantages, there are ample opportunities for enhancing productive ties and implementing new joint projects,” the President said.

 Having emphasized that, while chairing the ECO, Turkmenistan intended to fully contribute to the implementation of the enormous potential of interaction, the head of the state approved the proposals made and instructed to ensure a high level of preparation for the upcoming XV Summit.

 ECO was formed in 1985 and unites 10 states – Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. ECO has observer status in the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, closely cooperates with the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Specialized Agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), the International Energy Charter, the Association  the states of Southeast Asia (ASEAN), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and others. The priority vector of partnership between the ECO member states is the transport and communication sector.

 Speaking at the XIV ECO Summit in March 2021, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov called the promotion of expanding partnerships in the economic, trade, industrial, energy, transport and communication sectors and cultural and humanitarian spheres as a priority during the presidency of Turkmenistan in the Organization.

 The Turkmen leader singled out industrial cooperation, the consolidation of production and technological potential, and the implementation of large joint infrastructure projects as the key economic areas.