The visit was conducted to seek avenues for collaboration and revitalize the scope of cooperation enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed between ECO and the Turkic Council in 2014.
During the first day of the visit, the delegation composed of the Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ömer Kocaman and Project Directors Özge Pan, Farrukh Jumayev and Ersin Aydoğan of the Turkic Council Secretariat, held bilateral meetings with Directors and Program Officers of ECO Secretariat. The Parties shared information and experience on their respective activities in key areas such as trade and investment, customs and transport, tourism, agriculture, education and energy at the technical meeting held in the ECO Secretariat.
Following two-days technical meetings, the Secretaries General of both Organizations came together with the delegations during a wrap-up session to adopt the Work Program in the mentioned fields of cooperation in line with the MoU signed between ECO and Turkic Council.
The Secretary General of ECO, H.E. Hadi Soleimanpour welcomed the delegation of the Turkic Council Secretariat and expressed the importance of this first visit carried out by the delegation of the Turkic Council to strengthen close relations between two organizations and implementing the items envisaged in the MoU. Secretary General H. Soleimanpour underscored the need for harmonizing policies in the region and stated that productive meetings held between the delegations and joining the efforts in the areas where the two Organizations have significant experience will contribute to overall development of the region.
Expressing his gratitude for the hospitality extended by the ECO Secretariat during the visit, the Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev stated that joint work carried out by the representatives of the two Organizations will boost mutual cooperation in the priority fields, yielding positive results for materializing the common goals. He also expressed that close cooperation will prevent two Organizations from conducting overlapping programs and projects and contribute to the efficiency of the activities undertaken in similar areas.
Based on the mutual understanding reached by the Secretaries General, the Parties agreed to convene experts of both Organizations once a year to follow-up implementation of the targets identified in the work program and discuss new steps to be taken in the forthcoming years.
During the wrap-up session, Deputy Secretaries General, Dr. Ömer Kocaman of the Turkic Council and Kanan Nazarov of ECO informed the Secretaries General about the outcomes of the technical meeting and concluded the Work Program for the period of 2019-2020.
In the framework of his working visit to ECO, Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev had a meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Abbas Araghchi in order to discuss avenues of cooperation between the Turkic Council and ECO.
Secretary General H. Soleimanpour hosted a luncheon in honor of the Turkic Council Secretary General B. Amreyev with the participation of the Ambassadors of the ECO Member States as well as the delegations of both sides.
Ambassador Avazbek Abdurazakov of Kyrgyz Republic to Iran, representing the Chairman-in-Office of the Turkic Council also organized a dinner attended by the ECO Secretary General and Ambassadors of the ECO Member States on the occasion of the Turkic Council Secretary General’s visit to ECO Secretariat.
