BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. Three countries have signed the Charter of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Research Centre to be established in Baku, ECO Secretary General Ambassador Khusrav Noziri said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"The proposal on the establishment of the ECO Research Center (ECO-RC) belongs to the Republic of Azerbaijan and this was reflected in the Baku Declaration of the 9th Summit of ECO (May 5, 2006, Baku). During subsequent gatherings of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) this idea was further elaborated. The Charter of the ECO Research Centre was ready for signing by the Member States at the 14th Summit of Heads of State and Government of ECO countries held in March 2021 in virtual format. Currently three countries have signed the said Charter (Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Pakistan). The ECO Research Center will be located in Baku," he said.
Noziri noted that the main goal of the Centre is conduct of economic research and development of proposals and recommendations on relevant issues in sustainable socio-economic development that serve the interests of ECO member states as well as contribute to increased cooperation among these states.
"The existing ECO Economic Journal (EEJ) is expected to be part of the ECO Research Center. 26th meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the ECO countries held in Tashkent on January 24, 2023 unequivocally supported the continuation of activities aimed at transforming the ECO Economic Journal borne by the Chief Editor’s office into an internationally recognized, widely disseminated and reputable publication and called on the Secretariat to accelerate the procedure for financing of the project proposal for the new concept of the Journal," he said.
Khusrav Noziri went on to add that currently the ECO Secretariat in cooperation with the ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) arranged allocation of a substantial amount for the transformation of the Journal.
"After several years of pause the Journal resumed its work, publishing its editions for the years 2022 and 2023. There are plans to place the results of the work done by the ECO Research Center at the web-site of the ECO Economic Journal along with publications by the Member States and ECO Secretariat. It is anticipated that the work of the ECO Research Center and ECO Economic Journal will be focused around the current priorities of the Member States such as transit and transport, energy, water, food security, diversification of economy, green economy, climate change and others," he concluded.
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