Pakistan to push for implementation: ECO agreements -DAWN

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September 25, 2005	Sunday	Sha'aban 20, 1426

Pakistan to push for implementation: ECO agreements

By Qudssia Akhlaque

ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: Pakistan will push for early implementation of various ECO agreements at the Council of Ministers (COM) meeting next week in Astana, Kazakhstan where it will be represented by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, it is learnt.

The one-day meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) is scheduled for Oct 1.

The annual COM meeting will review the status of the ECO agreements and implementation of decisions taken at the last meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The ministerial session will be preceded by a two-day senior officials meeting (SOM) at which Pakistan will be represented by Additional Foreign Secretary Khurshid Anwar.

Pakistan, as the coordinating country for the ECO Trade Agreement (Ecota) will brief the meeting on the progress made so far on this front, officials here said.

“Pakistan will also push for more countries to ratify the trade agreement which was signed in Islamabad in July 2003 at the commerce ministers meeting,” a senior official told Dawn. He pointed out that while Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran had signed the agreement so far only Pakistan and Tajikistan had ratified it.

Under the agreement, open to all member countries, the tariff would be reduced to 15 per cent in eight years. However, the ‘fast track countries’ which include Pakistan, Iran and Turkey would reduce it to 21 per cent over five years, the official explained.

Diplomatic sources said Pakistan will also underscore at the meeting the need for an effective mechanism to implement ECO decisions which include establishment of ECO Trade and Development Bank in Iran and ECO Reinsurance Company in Turkey.

“Pakistan will also push for implementation of proposals made by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the last year’s ECO summit meeting in Dushanbe that called for restructuring of the ECO Secretariat in Tehran and advocated greater involvement of the private sector.