ECO

 

The Economic Cooperation Organization (­ECO) is an intergovernmental regional organization  established in 1985 by Iran, Turkey, Pakistan for the purpose of  promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states and has the character of being the continuation of the Organization of Regional  Cooperation for Development (Kalkınmaya Yönelik Bölgesel İşbirliği Teşkilatı [RCD]) which existed from 1964 to 1979.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan became members of the ECO in 1992.

Despite the fact that ECO is a new organization, the commercial vigorousness in the ECO region is continuing increasingly as every day passes, and  the international importance of the region of the ECO is growing. On the other hand, some challenges such as the inefficiency of proper infrasructure  are being encountered  in the issues of realizing the purposes and targets of the organization.

Up to the present time, the member  states with the collaborative efforts have been co-operating to accelerate regional development and using available links of infrastructure and commerce besides their common cultural and historical affinities to accomplish their goals and wishes. Several projects have been carried out by the ECO in priority sectors, such as  energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan are the member countries of ECO.

The Council of Ministers (COM) is the uppermost decision making body of the ECO and consists of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member countries of ECO or some ministerial representatives assigned by the governments of the member countries of the ECO. The Council of Ministers convenes at least once per year through rotation among the member states.

The Regional Planning Council (RPC) of  the ECO is composed of the heads of the Planning Organizations of the ECO member countries or the representatives who are the counterparts of the heads of the Planning Organizations of the ECO member states.

In recent years most of the ECO routes in Turkey have been changed to the asphalt coated dual carriageway. The activities to bring some road sections of the ECO routes to higher standard are continuing within the framework of Investment Program.

In Turkey the ECO routes are the shortest and high standard highway routes which connect the ECO countries with the European countries and the Middle Eastern countries.

As of May 2011, the ECO Transit Highways Map was prepared by the Secretariat of ECO and distributed to the member states. The current ECO Turkish Highway Map is presented below. The ECO highway network of Turkey has a length of 9,914 km.