The Founder of Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon attended and delivered a speech at the 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad today.
Addressing the Summit, President Emomali Rahmon pointed out that the Economic Cooperation Organization over its past period has made certain achievements in development of our multilateral cooperation, made it possible to establish a legal framework of our cooperation in
priority areas and created a favorable environment for expansion of trade, movement of people and transit operations between our countries.

President Emomali Rahmon stressed that the development and expansion of multifaceted cooperation with the ECO member states is one of the important dimensions of Tajikistan’s foreign policy and the share of ECO member states in Tajikistan’s foreign trade accounts for over 36 percent.

In his address, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon put forward effective proposals to strengthen cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, investment, transport and transit system, as well as the construction of energy facilities, tourism
infrastructure, efficient use of water resources, implementation of a number of small and large regional projects between the Member States of the Organization for Economic Cooperation.

It was emphasized that the regional cooperation for establishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan and the entire region still remains as one of the important common objectives of the Government of Tajikistan, and in this regard, Tajikistan welcomes the involvement of its close neighbor – Afghanistan into the regional integration process and we support the activities of the ECO Special Fund for Reconstruction of Afghanistan and implementation of the Action Plan on rehabilitation of social infrastructure in the country.

It was expressed confidence that ECO member states will proactively participate in the implementation of the new Decade under the motto “International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” (2018-2028) which was adopted last year by the United Nations General Assembly resolution at the initiative of Tajikistan that will also  substantively contribute to implementation of water related objectives and targets.

President Emomali Rahmon reiterated readiness of the Government of Tajikistan to have civilized relations and wide range real cooperation with all friendly countries as well as regional and international organizations and pointed out to the core of our foreign policy which is based on the acknowledged and imperishable principles of sustainable friendship, equal rights and mutual trust and respect.

It was also expressed confidence that the outcomes of the Summit will serve as another decisive factor for further enhancement of mutually rewarding economic cooperation between our countries.

The ECO Heads of State/Government of member states, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, representatives of Afghanistan, Cyprus and the People’s Republic of China, the UN and other international organizations also delivered their speeches at the summit.
A constructive exchange of views took place on the Connectivity for Regional Prosperity.
The ECO Summit concluded after adopting the Islamabad Declaration.
In the final part of the Summit, seven scientists, including the representative of the Republic of Tajikistan, Chief Scientific Secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Doctor of Biological Sciences Abdusattor Saidov, were awarded the Prize of the Economic Cooperation Organization in the field of science and technology for the significant contribution to the development of science and different areas.
It should be emphasized that within the holding of the 13th ECO Summit Islamabad also hosted the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the members states of ECO. The meeting adopted a decision to pass to Tajikistan the presidency in the Council of Foreign Ministers on the basis of which the next meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the members states of ECO will be held in 2018 in Dushanbe.