Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday left for Baku, Azerbaijan, to attend 9th summit of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The ECO forum could be used in an effective way to promote trade and economic activities in the region, the prime minister said before his departure to Baku. He said ECO was an important forum to promote trade and economic activities among the leaders from Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Aziz said Pakistan is keen to expand trade and economic relations through this summit. The prime minister said the ECO could be helpful to promote multi-dimensional regional cooperation and to create conditions for sustained socio-economic growth in the member states. Aziz said due to important geographical position of Pakistan in the region, it could play important role in promoting trade and economic activities in the region. The ports of Gwadar and Karachi, he said, could be used by the Central Asian states to promote their trade and particularly transfer their energy to other countries. The prime minister said on the sidelines of the ECO summit, he would meet different leaders and discuss regional issues including Afghanistan, Iran, Kashmir and other issues. Aziz said that in the summit Pakistan would present a strategy on ways and priorities to enhance economic ties among the member states. He said Pakistan would also share its experiences and best practices with the ECO states and call for strengthening the organization for the benefit of the people of the region. The 8th summit of ECO in Dushanbe on September 14, 2004 finalised an agreement for a Free Trade Area and progress on it would be reviewed during the 9th summit, besides taking up progress on ECO Vision 2015.
