A meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in the federal capital on Tuesday approved the ECO Vision 2025 and Islamabad Declaration 2017 in the run-up to the 13th ECO Summit to be held tomorrow.

The council approved the text of the ECO Vision 2025 and Islamabad Declaration recommended by senior officials of member states on the first of a two-day conference.

Islamabad Declaration 2017 contains the salient points of cooperation among the members of ECO in connectivity, trade, transport and energy fields.

Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria termed the ECO Vision 2025 a 'route map' for members, and the Islamabad Declaration 'an agenda for regional peace'.

'Transform community into strong economic bloc'

Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday urged all ECO members to transform the community into a strong economic bloc "through full exploration of its human and material resources".

Aziz made the remarks while chairing the 22nd meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers.

"Prosperity in the region can only be attained through mutual interaction," Aziz said, calling for the combined effort of all ECO members in jointly dealing with challenges.

Aziz also noted that one of the hurdles for transit trade in the region was the lack of connectivity. He added that transportation infrastructure should be developed to ensure swift trade, and laid emphasis on the development of corridor-based projects.

He also suggested that the ECO Science Foundation be strengthened in order to pave way for increased cooperation in the region with regards technological development. To that end, he proposed an increase in the membership of the foundation.

Iran supports ECO

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he believes Pakistan will take concrete steps to enable the organisation to achieve its goals; and for this, Iran will always support Pakistan as the new chair of the organisation, IRNA reported.

“Let me assure the new ECO chairmanship, Pakistan, of the full support of Iran in achieving its goals to make ECO more effective and implementation of the new ECO vision” Zarif told IRNA.

Zarif added that ECO is a good platform to further economic cooperation among member states.

Iran's top diplomat also hoped that Pakistan, as a founding member of ECO, would play an active role in bettering the organisation.