November 28, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 6, 1427

LAHORE, Nov 27: Industries and Production minister Jahangir Khan Tareen will preside over the third three-day ministerial meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) on industrial development due to begin on Tuesday.

The meeting is being organised by the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) on behalf of the government of Pakistan.

The moot will open with the second high-level experts’ group meeting. The two-day experts group meeting comprising six technical sessions will conclude by developing a joint strategy for the development of SMEs for the ECO member countries.

After the end of experts’ group deliberations, the third ECO ministerial meeting would be held on Thursday, which will conclude in the evening after a day-long technical session.

The first ministerial meeting of the ECO was held in Tehran in January 2004, which approved the ECO plan of action on industrial cooperation. The objectives of the plan of action are to contribute economic and social development of the region through greater integration of the ECO countries into the world economy.

The establishment of an investment-friendly environment in the region, enforcement of industrial standards, development of human resources and preparation of a long-term regional strategy for ECO industrial cooperation are also the significant parts of the action plan.

The second ministerial meeting on industry was held in Istanbul in November 2005, which approved the plan of action on privatisation. The meeting also considered the progress on preparation of ECO industrial cooperation strategy and cooperation in the fields of small and medium enterprises, industrial property rights and establishment of technology transfer centre.

The third ministerial meeting will draw viable proposals on the above mentioned agenda on the recommendation of the experts’ group meeting.