The 13th ECO Summit – based on the theme, ‘Connectivity for Regional Prosperity’ – concluded with the adoption of the ECO Vision 2025 and the Islamabad Declaration. These initiatives emphasised the importance of exploiting the economic complementarities of member states and utilising their affinities in the domain of history, culture and civilisation as bedrocks for regional integration. The Islamabad Declaration also expressed the political will of the member states to double the existing trade volume, strengthen the elected governments, take joint efforts to curb terrorism and drug businesses and promote peace and development in the region.
The summit, which was held after nearly five years, was significant from a number of perspectives. It gave a new vision and clear-cut roadmap for the achievement of its core objectives to establish a single market for goods and services on the pattern of the EU and enhance of trade, investment and development among the member states. It also helped foster personal ties between the leaders of the member states and provided them the opportunity to remove the irritants in their bilateral relations. A case in point is the meeting between the Turkish and Iranian presidents where they agreed to improve relations that had turned sour as both countries were on the opposite side of the conflict in Syria.
For Pakistan, the summit – apart from putting the spotlight on the economic achievements of the country and endorsing its vision for regional connectivity for shared prosperity – sent a strong message to the global community concerning improvements in peace and security and its credentials as a ‘normal’ state that provided enormous investment opportunities.
The summit also reaffirmed Pakistan’s pivotal role in realising the dream of regional connectivity – made possible by CPEC and the revival of the Silk Route – which, in the words of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, could give a new impetus for cooperation in agriculture, culture, education, science and technology. In this context, he was not off the mark to stress the important role that Pakistan could play in fulfilling the ECO’s objectives. He rightly remarked that Pakistan had the location, political stability and, now, the increasingly physical infrastructure to achieve a common vision by making the ECO a powerful economic bloc and an engine for growth. The leaders of ECO countries endorsed the vision of the prime minister to turn the ECO into a strong economic bloc.
The forum also afforded an opportunity to the prime minister to reiterate Pakistan’s commitment to establish a peaceful neighbourhood. He was right on the money when he said that the peaceful settlement of longstanding disputes – like the Kashmir issue – and alleviating the suffering of Kashmir’s people will help advance the goals of stability and development of the entire region.
The ECO, which is a successor of the RCD, was formally launched by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in 1985. In 1992, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also joined the organisation. The geo-strategic location of the ECO region is of significance as it provides the shortest trade and transit route to Europe. All the ECO members are Muslim states and their geographical proximity presents ideal opportunities in developing transport and communication facilities. The member countries have enormous resources that can be employed to promote economic integration in the region. Though the ECO has developed into a vibrant entity over the years, it is still hamstrung by a lack of the necessary infrastructure and institutions which it is seeking to develop.
During the last 12 years, the member states have been collaborating to accelerate the pace of regional development. They have been able to use the existing infrastructural and business links to further fortify their resolve to transfer their hopes and aspirations into a tangible reality. The ECO has embarked on several projects in priority sectors of its cooperation – including energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control. However, the current framework of the ECO manifests itself mostly in the form of bilateral agreements and arbitration mechanisms between individual and fully sovereign member states.
Pakistan has a free trade agreement with Iran and Afghanistan and currently most of Afghanistan’s trade is through Pakistan. The Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement is designed to facilitate trade for goods and services for Central Asia via both Afghanistan and Pakistan – which is, in addition, the Ashgabat Agreement, a multimodal transport agreement between the Central Asian States. Iran and Turkey are also engaged in discussions for signing a free trade agreement. Pakistan and Turkey signed a free trade agreement framework in March 2015 and both countries have, since then, held several rounds of talks to conclude a formal Free Trade Agreement – which hopefully will be signed in the near future.
The Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline and Tapi also represent planned cooperation among members of the ECO. The Tabriz-Ankara Pipeline, the Persian Pipeline and the transportation of oil, gas, minerals and agricultural products from the Central Asia States – which compliment the industrial development in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey – also fall within the ambit of the ECO. For Pakistan – which is in the process of diversifying its oil and gas supplies – the linkage with the Central Asian States is extremely important.
Iran and the Central Asian States are rich in energy resources which play a pivotal role in nudging industrial development. The complementarities of the economies of the ECO member states are also a significant factor in achieving the objectives of the organisation.
It was, however, unfortunate that the Afghan president chose to stay away and the country was represented by the Afghan ambassador. The importance of Afghanistan in establishing regional connectivity can hardly be over-emphasised. The realisation of the goals of CPEC as well as the ECO are, to a great extent, linked to the active participation of Afghanistan and the removal of differences between Pakistan and the former which have been bedevilling the relations between both countries.
Pakistan needs to do everything within its power to mend fences with Afghanistan and remove the ambience of mistrust between both countries. Similarly, Afghanistan must also realise that it needs strong ties with Pakistan to establish peace and pursue the path of development.
Apart from the regional powers, such as Russia and China, the member states of the ECO can play a positive role in bringing Pakistan and Afghanistan together. Economic progress and regional connectivity to achieve shared prosperity are only possible in a peaceful and secure regional environment.
The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: ashpak10gmail.com