Last Sunday, November 28, Ashgabat under the chairmanship of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov hosted the 15th summit of the Leaders of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states.

 In 2021, Turkmenistan chairs the ECO.  The chairmanship of our state was adopted on March 4 of this year at the 14th ECO leaders' summit, which took place in Turkey online.

 The 15th Summit was attended by the heads of state and government of the ECO member states, in particular Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

 Speaking at the Summit, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov voiced the priority areas of cooperation under the chairmanship of our country in the Organization.  In this regard, it was emphasized that the Turkmen side with good reason considers the holding of this forum as an important event designed to strengthen cooperation between the participating countries in the economic, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres.

 Stating the progressive dynamics of the dialogue between Turkmenistan and the ECO, the head of the Turkmen state also noted the successful development of friendly, good-neighborly relations with each member state of the Organization separately.

 Speaking during the Forum, the Heads of State and Government of the participating countries, as well as the ECO Secretary General, emphasized that the current Summit has become an effective platform for making decisions on topical and key aspects of regional economic cooperation in the ECO space.

 Today, on the platform of the Organization, all conditions have been created for the further development of multilateral regional cooperation for the socio-economic growth of member countries, as well as the expansion of effective mutual cooperation in the field of trade, industry, transport and communications, agriculture, energy, health care, education, science and culture.

 At present, ECO is an authoritative international economic structure that has received recognition in the world.  The meeting is intended to further strengthen the relations of friendship, good-neighborliness and effective mutually beneficial partnership between all member states, to determine the directions of joint work for the coming period.

 Following the results of the 15th ECO Summit, a final document was adopted – the Ashgabat Consensus for Action.

 Then, the ECO awards ceremony took place, during which representatives of the Organization's member countries were awarded a special award from the Organization for Economic Cooperation in the categories «science and technology», «economics», «history, culture, literature and fine arts» and «agriculture and environment».