Turkey to host two-day ECO Council of Ministers Meeting

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will host a two-day meeting of the Senior Officials and Council of Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, the country's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will chair the 24th ECO Council of Ministers Meeting to be held Friday, and will work to transform the inter-governmental regional platform into a more effective, result and project-oriented organization, according to a ministry statement.

"As a founding member and the Chair of the Organization, we will continue in an effective manner activities of the ECO which aims at increasing cooperation and well-being in our region," the statement added.

The Council of Ministers is the highest policy and decision-making body of ECO and meets in regular, informal and extraordinary sessions.

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan hold ECO membership.

Established as Regional Cooperation for Development in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, the organization was renamed as ECO in 1985, according to its website.