Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan on Friday said Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) are blessed with a lot of resources to become a very successful economic block. The 13th ECO summit was a historic opportunity that has envisioned a future that sees the bloc achieve economic connectivity, strengthening private sector and reduce poverty, he said.
Khurram Dastgir Khan said this while speaking at the three-day ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry meeting at FPCCI Capital House.
President FPCCI Zubair Tufail, Chairman of the United Business Group Iftikhar Ali Malik, VPs of the FPCCI Mirza Ishtiaq Baig, Irfan Sarwana, Manzoor-ul-Haq Malik, Rasheed Paracha, Masooma Sabtain, Shaukat Masood, Sajjad Sarwar and other business leader and diplomats of ECO countries were also present on the occasion.
The Commerce Minister said that ECO can progress if it abandons protectionist mind-set, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, facilitate visa and customs procedures and mutually accept standardisation.
He noted that we have missed many boats and now we cannot afford to remain aloof to the world which is changing on a fast pace. We have to sincerely seek to improve economic trade and resource sharing.
Speaking at the occasion, Zubair Tufail who is also President of the ECO Chamber of Commerce said that ECO is a vehicle that can lead its member states to peace and prosperity. This was evident by the manner in which the ECO conference was conducted and efforts for increased infrastructural connectivity were pushed, he said.
Mr. Tufail said that beyond resolutions, the conference adopted the Vision 2025 – a roadmap for the next decade – and undertook the restructuring of the organisation’s headquarters and secretariat in Tehran to modern standards.He lauded the adoption of the Islamabad Declaration, which envisages doubling of the current level of intra-ECO trade in the next three to five years.
Our Government must ensure now that the infrastructure and connectivity projects that it has undertaken are completed on time to meet the goals of this ECO conference, he demanded.
Zubair Tufail said that the time is ripe for all the countries to turn paper declarations into socio-economic regional realities.
