The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)
Intergovernmental organisations · A trade bloc of Iran, Turkey and their neighbours
The Economic Cooperation Organization is a regional trade and development bloc linking Iran, Pakistan and Turkey with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian republics.
At a glance
| Founded | 1985 (successor to the 1964 RCD) |
|---|---|
| Members | 10, incl. Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan & Central Asia |
| Headquarters | Tehran, Iran |
| Focus | regional economic integration |
The ECO was founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey as the successor to an earlier grouping, the Regional Cooperation for Development (1964). With the collapse of the Soviet Union it expanded in 1992 to admit Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the newly independent Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — bringing its membership to ten and giving it a broadly Turco-Persian and Central Asian character.
From its secretariat in Tehran the organisation promotes trade, transport and energy links across a region that historically formed a connected zone of overland commerce; projects have included transit corridors, a trade agreement and cooperation in energy and telecommunications. Its members overlap heavily with the OIC and, in part, with the D-8.
Like the region's other economic blocs, the ECO has often struggled to translate ambitious frameworks into deep integration, hindered by sanctions on some members, conflict in others, and competing external pulls; it nonetheless remains a significant forum for its landlocked and energy-rich member states.
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