ECO parliamentary moot opens in Islamabad

Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, who initiated the idea of establishing a general assembly of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) countries, inaugurated the first parliamentary assembly conference of ECO countries (PAECO) on Monday.

The member countries also signed the PAECO Charter in the ceremony chaired by Founding President of PAECO Speaker National Assembly Dr. Fehmida Mirza.

Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, in her opening address, said 10 ECO member states combine to form the largest repository of human and natural resources in the world.

“With a total area of around eight million square kilometres, inhabited by more than 400 million people, they represent over five percent of the world’s land mass and six percent of its entire population,” she said.

She said the adverse global and regional scenarios such as challenges concerning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, intolerance and extremism have emerged as serious threats to the region’s stability, peace and security.

It is also because of these reasons that ECO has not been able to achieve its promised targets.

“It is an irony that there remains a wide gap between the region’s abundant energy resources and the acute needs of its member states, especially Pakistan,” Dr Mirza said adding the intra- regional trade is less than US$ 50 billion.

She also stressed the need to address the needs of the women and children as their plight in ECO countries was a critical area of common concern.

Dr Fehmida Mirza hoped that in the age of rapid transformation, the ECO region stands at a threshold of taking a quantum leap into an unprecedented future of unlimited opportunity and infinite hope.

The assembly of the ECO parliament aims to promote people-to-people contact and coordination among their parliaments.

The permanent secretariat of the PAECO will be situated in Islamabad and Dr Mirza will be its first chairperson.

The National Assembly hosted its first meeting in Islamabad in September 2012 where a charter of the assembly was drafted and agreed for formal signature by the PAECO speakers.

The inaugural ceremony was also addressed by Chairman of Milli Majlis ( Parliament ) of Azerbaijan Sabir Asadov, Speaker of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Jamil Chi-chak, Deputy Speaker of Wolesi Jirga of Afghanistan, Neamatutallah Ghauffari, Speaker of Majlis-i-namoyandgan of Majlis- Oli of Tajikistan Shukur Jon Zuhurov and Secretary General ECO Dr. Shamil Aleskerov.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Feb 11 2013. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Politics, South Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.