{"id":22889,"date":"2017-02-28T08:40:15","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T08:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/?p=22889"},"modified":"2017-02-28T10:09:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T10:09:41","slug":"pakistan-calls-for-eco-as-formidable-economic-bloc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/2017\/02\/pakistan-calls-for-eco-as-formidable-economic-bloc\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan calls for ECO as formidable economic bloc"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 696px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-22889-1\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/x-flv\" src=\"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Replacement-22nd-ECO-Council-Ministers-meeting-28-02-2017.flv?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Replacement-22nd-ECO-Council-Ministers-meeting-28-02-2017.flv\">http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Replacement-22nd-ECO-Council-Ministers-meeting-28-02-2017.flv<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>ISLAMABAD, Feb 28 (APP): The meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of Economic<\/p>\n<p>Cooperation Organisation began\u00a0here on Tuesday to approve the Islamabad<\/p>\n<p>deceleration to be adopted in the 13th ECO Summit to be held on Wednesday.<br \/>\nThe council is expected to approve the \u201cECO Vision 2025\u201d and text of Islamabad<\/p>\n<p>declaration,\u00a0recommended by the senior officials of the member states during their<\/p>\n<p>two-day deliberations. Islamabad declaration 2017 contains the salient points of<\/p>\n<p>cooperation among the members of ECO in connectivity, trade, transport and energy<\/p>\n<p>fields.<br \/>\nAddressing the meeting after assuming chairmanship of the 22nd Council of<\/p>\n<p>Ministers Meeting, Advisor to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz called for joint<\/p>\n<p>efforts to transform ECO into a formidable economic bloc through full exploitation<\/p>\n<p>of its human and material resources.<br \/>\nHe also identified the priority areas for ECO to help realise the dream of<\/p>\n<p>transforming the organisation into a strong economic bloc.<br \/>\nSartaj Aziz said immediate attention should be paid to increase intra-regional<\/p>\n<p>trade which is far below the potential. He called for implementation of ECO trade<\/p>\n<p>agreement and removal of trade and non-trade barriers besides establishment of a<\/p>\n<p>free trade area in the region.<br \/>\nHe pointed out that lack of regional connectivity was a major impediment to<\/p>\n<p>economic cooperation. He said for movement of goods, there should be focus on<\/p>\n<p>corridor-based projects for greater connectivity in different corridors.<br \/>\nThe advisor said there was need to increase the membership, scope and activities<\/p>\n<p>of ECO Trade and Development Bank as well as ECO Re-Insurance Company.<br \/>\nHe also proposed enhanced cooperation of public and private sectors of member<\/p>\n<p>states through ECO Chambers of Commerce and Industry.<br \/>\nHe suggested an increase in membership and ratification of ECO Science Foundation<\/p>\n<p>to promote scientific and technological cooperation in the region.<br \/>\nSartaj Aziz called for using the platform of Parliamentary Assembly of ECO to<\/p>\n<p>promote democratic values among member states.<br \/>\nThe Advisor also briefed the participants about Pakistan&#8217;s economic achievements<\/p>\n<p>that have restored investors&#8217; confidence.<br \/>\nHe said the government is focusing on creation and improvement of infrastructure<\/p>\n<p>and expressed the confidence that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would galvanise<\/p>\n<p>trade opportunities within the region.\u00a0 He asked the ECO countries to use Gwadar<\/p>\n<p>and the CPEC for economical trade of their goods to other countries.<br \/>\nThe Adviser pointed out that the region is faced with multiple challenges<\/p>\n<p>including terrorism, drug trafficking and other trans regional organised crimes.<\/p>\n<p>He said concerted efforts are required to meet the challenges and take forward the<\/p>\n<p>development agenda of the region.<br \/>\nHighlighting the economic progress made by the country over the last four years,<\/p>\n<p>the adviser said all the economic indicators are positive which has raised the<\/p>\n<p>confidence of investors. He said the country is also pursuing a comprehensive anti<\/p>\n<p>terrorism policy. He said we are committed to provide smooth and safe transit for<\/p>\n<p>trade of goods.<br \/>\nAddressing the meeting, outgoing Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Iran&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the organisation should invest more time and<\/p>\n<p>energy for implementation of ECO Vision 2025.<br \/>\nHe said the member states want the ECO to focus on projects and programmes which<\/p>\n<p>bring about maximum economic benefits to members and the region as a whole.<br \/>\nHe said continued regional cooperation within the ECO framework would require<\/p>\n<p>enhanced institutional and operational capacities in the organisation.<br \/>\nThe Iranian Foreign Minister expressed the confidence that the Vision 2025 and<\/p>\n<p>associated plans of action would broaden regional integration and cohesion.<br \/>\nSecretary General of ECO Halil Ibrahim in his address to the meeting stressed the<\/p>\n<p>need for sustained efforts and exploring all possibilities for harnessing the full<\/p>\n<p>potential of the Organization for development and prosperity.<br \/>\nHe said population of ECO region has reached 471 million and its GDP has cross one<\/p>\n<p>trillion dollars. He pointed out that ECO intra-regional trade has increased to<\/p>\n<p>8.3 percent in 2016 as compared to 5.3 percent in 2000.<br \/>\nThe Secretary General highlighted projects and plans being implemented in<\/p>\n<p>different fields including trade and investment, transport, communication, energy,<\/p>\n<p>environment and others.<br \/>\nHe said the ECO has signed forty-five MOUs and Agreements with UN System and other<\/p>\n<p>International organizations and these are at various stages of implementation.<br \/>\nHe said the ECO is in the process of development a regional framework for disaster<\/p>\n<p>risk reduction.<br \/>\nThe ECO Summit is expected to review the state of affairs of the Organization in<\/p>\n<p>the light of the new and emerging global and regional circumstances.<br \/>\nIt will also agree on the course of actions ECO should follow in expanding<\/p>\n<p>regional economic cooperation among its member States.<br \/>\nAPP\/Was\/mka\/\u00a0VNS Islamabad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD, Feb 28 (APP): The meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of Economic Cooperation Organisation began\u00a0here on Tuesday to approve the Islamabad deceleration to be adopted in the 13th ECO Summit to be held on Wednesday. The council is expected to approve the \u201cECO Vision 2025\u201d and text of Islamabad declaration,\u00a0recommended by the senior officials [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"post_format-post-format-video"},"video_url":["http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Replacement-22nd-ECO-Council-Ministers-meeting-28-02-2017.flv"],"featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Copy-of-1jpg-1-1024x576.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22889"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22911,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22889\/revisions\/22911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}