Reported by HPMM Group according to FINANCIAL TRIBUNE ;    The 24th Executive Committee and the 16th General Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organization’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI) was held in Tehran from March 3 to 5.

This was the first time in the past 50 years that representatives from all 10 ECO members, namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, took part in the meetings, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.

Specialized committees on transportation, trade, tourism, arbitration, industry, investments, promotion of SMEs and women entrepreneurs were held during the three-day meetings, over which ways of eliminating cooperation barriers were surveyed.

On the last day of the event, Pakistan handed over the chairmanship of ECO-CCI to Afghanistan for the fiscal 2018-19.

The Economic Cooperation Organization, founded in 1985 in Tehran by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, is the second largest regional organization after the European Union in terms of geography (close to 8 million square meters) and population (over 463 million).

“The foreign trade of ECO member states currently stands at more than $845 billion per year,” Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri, the head of ECO Cultural Institute, told Financial Tribune in an earlier interview.

ECO’s cultural institute is located in Iran, its economic bureau is in Turkey and its scientific office is in Pakistan.

ECO members’ main exports consist of oil and gas, textile, steel, minerals, chemical products and grains, while their imports include energy, vehicles and machinery.