34th Meeting of ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC) held in hybrid mode
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The 34th Meeting of the ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC) was held in hybrid mode from January 22-25 2024. During the meeting, various sessions of sectoral committees were held to discuss and consider the specific programmes for the year 2024. The Committees made their recommendations areas to the RPC to implement the plans. The plans were focussed on trade, investment, energy, minerals, environment, human resource, transport & communications, tourism and sustainability.
The meeting was attended by the delegations from the ECO Member States, ECO Specialized Agencies, Regional Institutes and Affiliated Bodies, as well as the Turkish Cypriot State as an ECO observer. Five Member Delegation from ECOSF headed by President Prof. Komail Tayebi also attended the meeting.
The ECO Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Khusrav Noziri welcomed the participants and highlighted the significance of RPC in consideration of its essentially important role of analyzing and evaluating the Organization’s ongoing activities as well as considering and developing some new projects and programs to be implemented to shoulder, support and continue the regional development process. He also shared that the Secretariat convened and organized several important meetings and workshops, seminars, etc. in 2023, both in virtual/hybrid and physical formats.
The Meeting was chaired by Director General of the Department of Economics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Chair welcomed the participants and thanked them for joining the Plenary Session of the 34th RPC to consider, review and finalize the ECO’s Work Program and Calendar of Events-2024. He assured that his country is well-determined to effectively meet the assigned responsibility for further strengthening regional cooperation within the ECO framework.
During the opening session, President ECOSF also made the statement. In his statement, Prof. Tayebi said that despite the financial and budgetary constraints, ECOSF has continued its robust efforts on strengthening Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) in the ECO Region. He also shared the updated-on collaboration of ECOSF with international organizations for promotion of STI in ECO region. President ECOSF also called upon I.R. of Iran and other ratifying member states - Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to kindly make their mandatory contributions to strengthen the Foundation. The Member States who have not yet ratified the ECOSF Charter and its Additional Protocol, were urged to kindly do so at their earliest to benefit from Foundation’s programs and let it function at the fullest. While ECOSF is actively promoting science, technology, innovation, and education with international collaboration, Prof. Tayebi emphasized to Member States to consider the requests positively for the advancement of connectivity and knowledge-based socio-economic development in the region. At the end, President ECOSF expressed his sincere thanks to the ECO Secretariat for their efforts in amicably and successfully convening and organizing 34th Meeting of RPC.
At the end of the Meeting, the Council appreciated and thanked the ECO Secretary General and his team for making necessary arrangements for successful holding 34th meeting of RPC and preparation of relevant documents. The Council concluded the meeting with a vote of thanks to the Chair for managing the meeting in a proactive, smooth and efficient manner. The Council also acknowledged and thanked the Chairmen of various Sectoral Committees for successfully conducting their tasks.