LAHORE, May 30: The Economic Cultural Institute (ECI), a body of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), will observe Nov 9 the birthday of Allama Iqbal as the official day of ECO and Alhamra Art Centre has been declared by the institute its sister organisation.
ECI Executive Director Oriya Jan Maqbool announced this at a press conference held at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Wednesday.
He said the ECI, established seven years ago, held a meeting at Islamabad on May 21 which took a number of decisions. The meeting was attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
He said third meeting of Board of Trustees meeting of ECO was also held on 22 May in Islamabad.
Jan said Allama Iqbal is given high respect in Iran and it was decided that Nov 9 will be observed as official day of the ECO.
He said that he had recently written a letter to Punjab government for upkeep of shrines of Saadats in the province. Jan said ECO through the ECI had allocated a 2 million dollar fund for the purpose. He said Alhamra Art Centre had been declared an ECI sister concern in Pakistan and the step had been lauded in Iran.
He said the ECI worked in art and craft, media and sports.
Jan said for smooth and effective functioning of the ECI an ECO Cultural Trust Fund would be established for which Iran had contributed 2 million dollars and requested other member countries to contribute as well.
Jan said an ECO satellite Tv channel would also be set up for which Pakistan Television would make a financial feasibility report. The English language channel to be set up in Iran would air travelogues, besides reports on monuments and wildlife, he added. He said for the channel two million dollars had been allocated. He said a meeting of all broadcasting members would be held in July this year to discuss details pertaining to the proposed channel.
Jan said an ECO theme park would also be established in every member country for which Lahore was a suitable city in Pakistan given its rich cultural heritage.
He said in November 2007, the first ministerial meeting on tourism would be held which would be followed by a tour-operators’ conference.
He said the ECI was also starting a Visitors’ Exchange Programme for journalists under which 50 newsmen from the 10 member states would visit the member countries.
He said a Cinema Development Board would also be established on Afghanistan’s proposal, and Iran had promised to extend full support in this regard.
He said for ECI logo a competition among the artists from member countries would be held.
He said it was decided that ECO cultural week would be held by rotation in each member country in the last week of March every year.
For holding youth and ECO film festivals, Iran would dedicate a part of international fajar film festival to Eco films.
He said Pakistan would arrange a moving arts and crafts exhibition which would visit the ECO member states by rotation.
For calligraphy exhibitions, a gallery space would be specified in each member country, and Pakistan would be the first to host the show at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad.
He said an ECO sports council would be formulated to coordinate and manage various sports activities in the region. The ECO regional games would be a regular feature of the sports council.