Pakistan elected to assume chair of ECO Council of Ministers

Pakistan was elected on Friday as the next chair of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Council of Ministers (COM), as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar participated virtually in the 29th ministerial session, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In his address, Dar thanked member states for their confidence in Pakistan’s leadership and pledged to advance the organisation’s agenda of regional integration, connectivity and economic cooperation.

He also congratulated Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev for hosting the meeting and appreciated the contributions of Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and ECO Secretary General Dr Asad Majeed Khan.

Dar reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the ECO Vision 2025 and said Islamabad would work closely with member countries to finalise the ECO Vision 2026-2035 during its term as chair.

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He said Pakistan’s priorities would include strengthening multimodal transport corridors, harmonising customs regimes and improving transit and trade linkages across the region.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to operationalising key connectivity projects, including the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul Rail Corridor, the Eurasian Multimodal Corridor and emerging rail links between Central Asia and Pakistan via Afghanistan.

Referring to the Regional Transport Ministers’ Conference hosted by Islamabad in October, Dar said Pakistan was shaping cooperation across road, rail, maritime and digital connectivity.

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He also highlighted Pakistan’s liberalised visa regime for 126 countries to support travel, business and tourism.

Dar called for deeper cooperation in sustainable transport, transit trade, customs harmonisation and climate-resilient infrastructure. He stressed that terrorism remained a major impediment to regional economic progress and urged coordinated action among ECO states.

He thanked member countries for designating Lahore as the ECO Tourism Capital for 2027 and invited them to attend the 30th ECO-COM meeting in Pakistan next year.