ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organisation was finally set up after the representatives of ECO member countries signed here on Monday a ‘PAECO charter’. The move has been described as a milestone towards enhanced regional cooperation and integration.
The idea of establishing the parliamentary forum was floated by the then National Assembly Speaker in 1993 and recently revived by the incumbent.
National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of Shura-i-Islami of Iran Dr Ali Larijani, Speaker of Majlis-i-Namoyo of Majlis-i-Oli of Tajikistan, Speaker of Grand Assembly of Turkey Jamil Chi-Chak, Chairman of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Sabir Asadov and Second Deputy Speaker of Olesi Jirga of Afghanistan signed the charter on behalf of their respective countries at the first general conference of the Parliamentary Assembly.
The eleven-article charter came into force immediately after four member countries signed it and notified to the ECO secretariat that internal legal procedures had been fulfilled.
The main objective of the assembly is to promote people-to-people contacts with a view to achieving understanding, trust and friendship among ECO members.
Other objectives are to coordinate and exchange experiences of parliaments and parliamentarians of ECO countries, provide a forum for exchanging experiences of parliamentary practices, increase interaction through friendship groups in parliaments and cooperate with each other at international forums in matters of common values, interests and opportunities.
A meeting of the Executive Council of PAECO held after the inaugural session unanimously elected Dr Fehmida Mirza as president of the first General Assembly of PAECO. It was attended by the speakers of Tajikistan, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.
The meeting approved agenda and topics of the first general assembly, which will meet here on Tuesday. Afghanistan will host the second assembly session in the middle of next year.
Addressing the inaugural session of the assembly and signing of the charter, Dr Fehmida Mirza expressed the hope that delegates of the assembly would identify their role as parliamentarians in pursuing the agenda of sustainable socio-economic development by promotingtrade and investments in the ECO region.
She said the ECO region stood at the threshold of taking a quantum leap into an unprecedented future -- a future of unlimited opportunity and infinite hope. She regretted that despite sharing common borders, the inability to develop effective and reliable transport systems had not allowed any two of the ECO member states to become each other’s leading trading partners. “The intra-regional trade is less than $50 billion,” she added.
Dr Mirza said proposals like ‘ECO Vision-2015’ which anticipated the ECO region as a free trade area by 2015, ‘ECO trade agreement’ and ‘ECO Trade and Development Bank’ could not materialise.
“Despite adoption of the crucial five-year plan of action on energy cooperation at the ECO ministerial meeting in 2010, there is a wide gap between the region’s abundant energy resources and the acute needs of its member states, especially Pakistan,” she said.
ECO Secretary General Dr Shamil Aleskerov said the charter was a manifestation of commitment by ECO member countries to advance the existing cooperation to another level for the realisation of common objectives in the field of socio-economic development.
The Speaker of Iranian parliament, Dr Larijani, said regional and international crises were affecting all ECO member countries. In order to improve the situation in the region, he said, it was necessary to utilise the ECO for consultations on political and security matters.
Also on Monday, women parliamentarians from ECO member countries held their first meeting and signed ‘Islamabad declaration’, resolving to encourage women to play an active role in politics.