Tashkent gears up for 16th ECO summit 2023

Tashkent, 8 November 2023 (WAI): Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, will host the 16th ECO Summit on Thursday, November 9, 2023.

As an independent nation since November 1992, Uzbekistan will host a multilateral summit under the auspices of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) for the first time.

Uzbekistan presided over the ECO for the first time in 2022. Speaking on November 28, 2021, at the 15th ECO Summit in Ashgabat, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev suggested collaborating in trade, investment, transportation, and the “green” economy.

“At the summit, he emphasized that we must make greater use of our countries’ significant potential in trade and investment. With a population of over 500 million, we have a huge market.”

After assuming the chairmanship, the President stated that Uzbekistan supports the growth of comprehensive ties within the ECO framework.

Additionally, President Mirziyoyev presented an idea at the Ashgabat summit to achieve carbon neutrality, widely implement resource-saving technology in industrial sectors, and actively develop a “green” economy.

Uzbekistan views ECO as a forum to enhance growth and encourage trade and investment prospects in South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

In addition, Uzbekistan supports the establishment of interregional transit hubs, the advancement of contemporary road and transportation infrastructure, the optimization of transit and transportation tariffs, the easing of requirements for international freight and passenger traffic, and the influx of digitalization into the transportation sector.

The ECO nations are now Uzbekistan’s main trading partners. The statistics for 2022 show that trade turnover between Uzbekistan and the ECO member nations was $12.3 billion and $5.8 billion from January to July of 2023.

Additionally, Uzbekistan favors pooling resources to create shared strategies and provide Afghanistan with its needed help.

To help this nation’s economy and citizens, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has proposed a plan to continuously carry out significant trade, transportation, and energy projects of regional importance in partnership with Afghanistan.

Also Read: Prime Minister of Pakistan addressed 16th ECO Summit

Uzbekistan and ECO have been collaborating more closely since May 2018. Simultaneously, there has been a notable increase in the Uzbek delegations’ involvement in international events organized by ECO.

The foreign ministers of each of the organization’s member nations convened for the first time to attend the 26th meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers (COM) in Tashkent on January 24, 2023. The Tashkent Communiqué was subsequently ratified.

It’s also important to note that ECO Secretary General Khusrav Noziri took part in both the October 2021 presidential elections and the April 30, 2021, Uzbek Constitutional Referendum as an observer from outside.

The upcoming ECO Summit in Tashkent aims to boost Uzbekistan’s relations with ECO member states, establish a cooperative solution framework, and prioritize regional economic cooperation.