Türkiye will proceed to do its half to make the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) “more effective,” stated the nation’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Tuesday.
“Türkiye will continue to do its part to make the ECO more effective and attain its true share in the world economy. We know that this is an ambitious goal,” stated Çavuşoğlu on the 26th Council of Ministers Meeting of the ECO within the Uzbek capital Tashkent.
Çavuşoğlu added that with a powerful will, the group’s members will strengthen it within the face of the present difficult international setting.
The ECO is a political and financial intergovernmental group based by Türkiye, Pakistan and Iran in 1985 to function a platform to debate and enhance growth, and promote commerce and funding alternatives. It presently has seven extra members: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
“Today, the global economy faces major challenges. Food and energy prices are constantly rising. There are disruptions and changes in global supply chains. Global economic growth has not fully recovered. To overcome these challenges, we should accelerate our economic cooperation,” stated Çavuşoğlu.
He added that member states ought to improve transportation and logistics networks, and make full use of devices to reinforce regional commerce, such because the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement, often known as ECOTA.
“We should continue our efforts in 2023 to turn the ECO into a more effective and visible organization,” he pressured.
Turning to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is among the many three observers of the ECO, Çavuşoğlu stated, “It is, in fact, the most active observer in its contributions to our joint work. For the past 11 years, our Turkish Cypriot brothers participated and spoke at all high-level ECO meetings.”
Sideline conferences
On the assembly’s sidelines, Çavuşoğlu met together with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to debate financial and protection cooperation, in addition to regional developments.
Çavuşoğlu additionally mentioned relations between Türkiye and Uzbekistan within the fields of financial system, tradition and training with Bahtiyor Saidov, the Central Asian nation’s overseas minister.
After a separate closed-door assembly on the sidelines with Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, overseas minister of Turkish Cyprus, Çavuşoğlu additionally voiced Türkiye’s full help for the TRNC.
