Leaders of a 10-nation regional economic bloc, including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, agreed here today to collectively combat terrorism and vowed to cooperate in fields like trade, energy and infrastructure development.
The 13th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), chaired by Sharif, concluded with the unanimous resolve to transform the group into a vibrant entity.
The regional meet comes months after the SAARC summit, due to be held here, was cancelled after an India-led boycott.
Sharif inaugurated the ECO summit that was attended by the representatives of nine other countries -- Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- besides Pakistan.
The theme of the summit was 'Connectivity for Regional Prosperity', which assumes special significance in the backdrop of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
The summit concluded with the adoption of the Islamabad Declaration and Vision 2025, delineating a road-map for greater regional cooperation and integration over the next ten years.
Sharif was quoted by Radio Pakistan as saying that the collective political will of ECO leaders was unambiguously reflected in the Islamabad Declaration.
"The declaration underlines the importance of fully exploiting the economic complementaries of member states," he said.
Sharif said 'ECO Vision-2025' sets pragmatic and realistic goals along with implementation framework. He also said that ECO nations have resolved to fight terrorism and extremism.
"We are determined to collectively face challenges such as extremism, terrorism and drug trafficking in order to realise our vision of making the region a zone of peace and prosperity," Sharif said.
He said the member states would collectively endeavour to build and promote connectivity in multiple domains.
"The summit has emphasised on the need for regional cooperation in the energy sector focusing on infrastructure development and intra-regional energy corridors," he said.
Sharif said the leaders emphasised the importance of linkages between higher education and research institutions as well as developing partnerships in science and technology.
The Prime Minister said successful holding of the summit is a manifestation of the desire and commitment of the member states to transform ECO into a vibrant regional block.
Presidents of Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan while Prime Ministers of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan attended the summit. Afghanistan decided to have a lower level representation through its envoy in Islamabad. China and the UN attended as special guests.
ECO was established in 1985 by Pakistan, Iran and Turkey with Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan joining in 1992.
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