The 16th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the ECO member-states started in Baku on 4 May 2006, Trend reports.
The delegations from all 10 member- states of the organization Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were in attendance.
In accordance with the rotation principle the chairmanship was shifted from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan.
Opening the gathering the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister voiced his hope that the work of the Council of foreign Ministers will be fruitful and give impetus to the development of trade and economic cooperation among ECO member-states.
The gathering continued its work behind the closed doors.
Attending the meeting of the Council are the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, while the rest countries were represented by the Deputy Foreign Ministers.
The agenda of the gathering includes some issues concerning perspectives of the development of the organization. The gathering will take a paper by the ECO Secretary General, elect a new chair, discuss cooperation in the sphere of transport and trade under the regional organization and simplification of the visa regime.
The ministers will consider the budget of organization for 2005-2006 and adopt an action plan for 2006. The ministers will also confirm the agenda of the 9th summit of the ECO member-states, which will be held in Baku on 5 May.