Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.17 / Trend E. Mehdiyev /
During its two-year chairmanship in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Azerbaijan will try to tackle the unresolved issues within the ECO, in particular, negative processes causing mutual misunderstanding among the organization's member-states, Head of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Ali Hasanov told Trend on Wednesday.
"Azerbaijan will seek to ensure that the organization's member-states take into account their interests, as well as the interests of each other both in external and domestic affairs, define relations with each other and with the outside exactly, refuse to interfere in the internal affairs of each other, and constantly support each other's interests and people in both bilateral and multilateral relations. Therefore, we expect much from the ECO," Hasanov said.
He said Azerbaijan is one of the most active members of the ECO.
"From the first day of membership till present we have been able to develop partner relations on economic, political and international issues with majority of the ECO member-states. Azerbaijan has established partnership relations with Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Central Asian countries in the transportation, energy spheres, freight traffic, establishing links between East and West, as well as in other areas, becoming a country that initiated most real projects implemented in these areas," Hasanov noted.
Azerbaijan's activity has clearly been demonstrated in an example of implementation of the TRACECA project at a conference on the Great Silk Road, which was held in Baku in 1998 and attended not only by the ECO member states, but also other Eurasian states, he said.
"In addition, Azerbaijan is engaged in efficient activity on other vectors of transport and communications system "East-West" and "North-South" with the participation of the ECO member-states and cooperates with these countries in the development and hydrocarbon resources supply from the Caspian Sea to the world market," Hasanov said.
Azerbaijan cooperates and has partnership relations with these countries also in the cultural, social and political spheres. Most of these countries are Muslim countries, and we have a cultural and spiritual propinquity with them, our peoples share common national and moral values, we share common religion, common language and culture, and we share common historical values with them, Hasanov said.
"Therefore, we have really been the most active members of the ECO in the past period and have taken important steps in the name of the state and the nation taking advantage of this organization's opportunities," he said.
According to Hasanov, as the ECO chairman, Azerbaijan will be actively engaged in implementing this work.
The summit of the regional intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was held on Tuesday at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku.
The top meeting followed the 20th Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the ECO, which discussed a meeting agenda of heads of states on Monday.
The summit was attended by Presidents Ilham Aliyev, of Azerbaijan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of Iran, Asif Ali Zardari, of Pakistan, Hamid Karzai, of Afghanistan, Emomali Rahmon, of Tajikistan, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as high-ranking representatives of the ECO member-states.
ECO presidency passed to Azerbaijan from Turkey.
The summit adopted the ECO 2012 Baku Declaration, awarded prizes in various fields. It was agreed that the next ECO summit will be held in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad.
Established in 1985 by the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East the ECO is the successor of the Regional Cooperation for Development which acted on the basis of the Charter - the Izmir Treaty, signed by three founding countries - Iran, Pakistan and Turkey on March 12, 1977.