DUSHANBE, Sept 12: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri on Sunday said that Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has full potential to meet the challenges of the future as it can harness the region's vast human and material resources.

He was addressing the 14th meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers in Dushanbe. The foreign minister said cooperation among the ECO members was expanding and added there was a need to further improve the pace of cooperation as regional integration demanded more intense efforts.

He said progress was linked to the ability to integrate regionally and added that Pakistan believed that ECO had full potential to meet the challenges. The minister said the Treaty of Izmir was a manifestation of the brotherly relationship. He said: "We have been able to lay an institutional framework for cooperation among our people."

He said regional integration had become an economic imperative. He said ECO members could learn from the experiences of the European Union and ASEAN. The minister said the Transit Trade Agreement was an important landmark on the road to economic integration.

Mr Kasuri said early ratification and enforcement of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement was imperative to facilitate the flow of goods in the region. So far, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan and Tajkistan have ratified the agreement.

AFGHANISTAN: He said Pakistan was extending full cooperation to the Untied Nations for the elections in Afghanistan and added that Pakistan was confident that elections would strengthen democracy there and promote peace and stability in the region.