BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 28
Trend:
The 15th Summit of Heads of Member States of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 28, Trend reports.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the meeting.
“The Economic Cooperation Organization is one of the most important organizations uniting the regional countries,” Azerbaijani MP Vugar Bayramov told Trend. “Presently, the ECO’s economic power and the population are growing in the ECO member-states because we are talking about an organization that unites more than 400 million people.”
“Of course, one of the discussed issues is the possibility of expanding cooperation among the member-states amid the opening of the Zangazur corridor,” the MP added.
Bayramov stressed that following the meeting in Russia’s Sochi city, the Zangazur corridor has the potential to be realized in a short period of time because the issue of the restoration of communications and corridors was mentioned in the statement and the speech of the Russian President.
“This means that the realization of the Zangazur corridor will create new opportunities for the regional countries,” the MP added. “In particular, this means the unification of land routes of the Turkic world, which has a gross domestic product worth more than $1.1 trillion.”
The MP added that one of the other important points is to increase the international transportation volume among the regional countries and ECO member-states and of course, to expand foreign trade relations.
“The volume of cargoes which are transported through the region is expected to increase as a result of the commissioning of the Zangazur corridor,” Bayramov added.
Bayramov also stressed that the opening of the ECO Research Center in Baku is also very important.
“Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev proposed to establish the ECO Research Center in Baku during the 7th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Istanbul in 2002,” the MP added. “The ideas put forward by farsighted national leader Heydar Aliyev are coming true.”
Azerbaijani expert in economic issues Elmir Safarli said that the main issue on the agenda is to export goods from China, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and other eastern countries via Azerbaijan through the Zangazur corridor to Europe.
“The Zangazur corridor can be considered a corridor of restoration of the historic Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia,” the expert said. “The issue of attracting investments to Karabakh region is also very important. The investments are envisaged to be jointly made by local and foreign investors.”
“Azerbaijan will provide investors with benefits in some spheres,” Safarli said. “The creation of a business structure in the Azerbaijani lands liberated from the Armenian occupation will meet Azerbaijan's domestic needs and increase the export volume.”
The expert said that the opening of the ECO Research Center in Baku is also a significant event.
“The charter of the ECO Research Center was signed at the 14th ECO Summit held online under Turkey’s chairmanship in March 2021,” Safarli said. “The ECO Research Center will start to operate in Baku soon.”
“The unification of the Turkic states and ECO member-states will strengthen the economic partnership,” the expert said. “The statement was made at the ECO congress in early 2021 that the liberation of Karabakh region and the opening of the Zangazur corridor will play a fundamental role in restoring ties among these countries.”
“The trade potential among the Turkic states will be increased, as well as a way to Europe will be opened as soon as possible as a result of exporting the products by other countries through Azerbaijan,” the expert added.
Analysis Department of Trend News Agency