COUNTRYSpec

Economic Cooperation Organization

Economic · ECO

The rail run from Islamabad through Tehran to Istanbul is 6,543 kilometres, on the figure an ECO transport briefing gave in June 2016. Scheduled container services began over it in August 2010. Iran, Pakistan and Türkiye had signed the Treaty of Izmir on 12 March 1977, took the name Economic Cooperation Organization in 1985, and were joined by seven further states on 28 November 1992.

Read more about ECO

10 countries

Common questions

Questions about ECO

Which countries are in the Economic Cooperation Organization?

The 10 states listed on this page. Iran, Pakistan and Türkiye signed the Treaty of Izmir on 12 March 1977 and the organisation took its present name in 1985. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined on 28 November 1992, and the roster has not moved since.

What was the Regional Cooperation for Development?

The body ECO grew out of. The Secretariat's own account has the Regional Cooperation for Development founded in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, renamed the Economic Cooperation Organization in 1985, and operational from January 1991 with permanent headquarters at Tehran. The Turkish foreign ministry gives the same sequence, describing ECO as established in 1985 on the legal basis of the earlier body.

How does a country join ECO?

Under Article XIII of the Treaty of Izmir. Any state with geographical contiguity to the ECO region, or sharing the organisation's objectives and principles, may apply through the Secretary General to the Council of Ministers, which admits by unanimous vote. The applicant accedes under its own constitutional rules and deposits its instrument of ratification with the Government of Iran. Pending ratification it may take part as a full member with the Council's concurrence.

Is there free trade between ECO members?

Not on the face of the record. The ECO Trade Agreement was done at Islamabad on 17 July 2003 and sets tariff cuts to a highest slab of 15% over eight years, and fifteen years for Afghanistan, with the positive list widened in eight equal annual stages. Article 39 requires five governments to deposit instruments of ratification before it enters into force. ECO Vision 2025, approved on 28 February 2017, still states a free trade area as an aim.

Where is the ECO Secretariat, and what is ECO Day?

The Secretariat sits in Tehran, named in the treaty as the headquarters, and the Government of Iran is the host government with which instruments of ratification are deposited. ECO Day falls on 28 November, the date in 1992 on which the membership went from three states to its present size.

Sources

  • Treaty of Izmir (14 September 1996) · Economic Cooperation Organization. The charter itself: the 1977 signature, the articles on membership, decision-making, the Secretariat and the official language.
  • ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) · Economic Cooperation Organization. Done at Islamabad on 17 July 2003. The tariff schedule in Article 4 and the entry into force threshold in Article 39.
  • Member States · ECO Secretariat. The roster, and the Article XIII test quoted on the page itself.
  • ECO Celebrates 30 Years of its Expansion · ECO Secretariat. The Regional Cooperation for Development of 1964, the renaming in 1985, operations from January 1991, and ECO Day on 28 November.
  • Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) · Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The founding members, the composition and cadence of each organ, and the Council of Permanent Representatives in Tehran.
  • Transport and Communications · ECO Secretariat. The Almaty Outline Plan of October 1993, the Ashgabat programme of March 1997, the Transit Transport Framework Agreement of 1998 and the coordination council it created.
  • ECO's activities for Strengthening Transport Connectivity and Facilitation of Transit in the ECO Region · International Union of Railways, briefing dated Istanbul, 3 June 2016. The container corridors and their lengths, the transhipment fees, and the Kazakhstan to Turkmenistan to Iran line of December 2014.
  • ETDB in Brief · ECO Trade and Development Bank. Articles of agreement effective 3 August 2005, UN registration on 19 May 2008, operations from December 2008, and the later shareholders.
  • ECO Vision 2025 and Implementation Framework · ECO Secretariat, February 2017. Approved by the 22nd Council of Ministers at Islamabad on 28 February 2017, with the free trade area as a stated aim.
  • Azerbaijan Hosts 17th ECO Summit · ECO Secretariat. The specialized agencies and subsidiary bodies named as taking part, including the Trade and Development Bank and the parliamentary assembly.