Thu 04 February 2010 | 11:52 GMT Text size:

Mahmud Mammadguliyev

Azerbaijan will chair the General Secretariat of the Economic Cooperation Organization from 2012.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said that Azerbaijan is keen to see reform in the organization that brings together Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

"The Azerbaijani government supports the conduct of serious reforms in this organization and it has always said this openly," Mammadguliyev said. "The ECO has been functioning for over 20 years already. Of course, work has been done during this period. But there is still a need to raise the effectiveness of the organization. People must see that the organization really exists and is achieving results."

He said that the ECO has scope for development.

"The region represented in the organization has important advantages. In particular, the geographical location of these countries, the presence of a short, effective transport corridor and the diversity of natural resources are important."

The Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey in order to promote economic, technical and cultural cooperation. The ECO is the successor to the organization Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which existed from 1964 to 1979.

APA