ISLAMABAD: The 13th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) ended here on Wednesday with calls for doubling intra-regional trade in the next five years and promoting connectivity amid protest by Afghanistan over closure of border crossings by host Pakistan.

The summit was attended by all 10 ECO members, although Afghanistan was represented at a lower level because of tensions with Pakistan over terrorism sanctuaries. The leaders of participating countries, during their discussions, emphasised the importance of connectivity for prosperity of the region and exchanged views on regional and global issues, besides deliberating on ways of making the ECO a more efficient organisation.

“The successful holding of the summit is a manifestation of the desire and commitment of the member states to transform the ECO into a vibrant regional bloc,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who chaired the summit, said at the end of the session.

The summit adopted Islamabad Declaration and Vision 2025. The declaration calls for development of transport and communication infrastructure, facilitation of trade and investment, promotion of connectivity with other regions, effective use of energy resources and undertaking measures for making the ECO effective and efficient. Vision 2025 underscores promotion of cooperation among member states.

Kabul demands border reopening

Speaking at the summit, Tur­kish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for laying greater emphasis on promotion of intra-regional trade for promoting harmony and cooperation in the region.

“We have to take steps to increase intra-trade among member states. Activating the ECO trade agreement is an important means for liberalisation of trade among us,” he said.

The Islamabad Declaration envisages doubling of the current level of intra-ECO trade in the next three to five years through implementation of the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) and other ECO trade arrangements, and identification and elimination of physical and non-physical barriers impeding trade.

Intra-regional trade among the ECO member states is currently eight per cent of their cumulative external trade. ECO Secretary General Halil Ibrahim Akça told the leaders that the target was to increase it to over 20pc.

Factors restricting trade in the region include differences in economic systems, logistic constraints due to inadequate transport linkages and problems with banking transactions. The ECOTA was signed in July 2003 but has not been implemented as yet because half of the members are still to accede to it. The agreement is aimed at removing trade barriers for intra-regional trade.

“Encourage member states to accede to relevant agreements developed within the ECO framework in order to achieve the objectives set forth under the Treaty of Izmir and the ECO Vision 2025; and task hereby our relevant ministers and authorities to consider joining these agreements,” the declaration says. It expresses commitment to promote intra-ECO trade as an instrument of enhanced economic cooperation and revitalisation in the region.

It also calls for building and promoting sea, land and air transport linkages in addition to cyberspace for giving additional impetus to intra-regional trade.

Regional cooperation in energy sector, including energy infrastructure development, intra-regional energy trade, improving access to affordable energy resources and development of environment-friendly energy technologies, have been proposed by the declaration. Officials have been asked to explore the prospects of establishment of an ECO regional electricity market.

In his speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also stressed enhancing economic cooperation among the ECO member states. “Connectivity will help development and prosperity in the region,” he said.

President Rouhani called for restructuring the ECO to make it more effective.

The outcome document says the leaders envision a more efficient and effective ECO, equipped with required capabilities and resources, to better serve the noble objectives of the organisation. The leaders tasked ECO secretariat and permanent representatives of member states to introduce reforms in the organisation.

The ECO was formed in 1985 as a successor body to erstwhile Regional Cooperation Development, and expanded in 1992 when former Soviet Union’s Central Asian republics joined it. But it has made little progress and its institutional framework is said to be not very effective. With everybody emphasising enhanced connectivity, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan and President Ashraf Ghani’s special envoy Dr Omar Zakhilwal pointed to continued closure of Pak-Afghan border crossings by Pakistani authorities and demanded immediate reopening.

“The border crossings have been closed for about two weeks, which is causing a lot of hardship to ordinary people, besides damaging trade. Regional connectivity and barriers to trade, transit and movement of people between countries cannot go together,” he said.

Pakistan had closed the borders after being hit by a recent wave of terrorism in which over 100 people were killed. Islamabad says the attacks were directed from sanctuaries on Afghan soil and accuses Kabul of not taking action against the terrorists operating from its soil.

The Afghan envoy urged Prime Minister Sharif to immediately order reopening of the border crossings in the “spirit of the summit”.

The leaders vowed to collectively face regional challenges including extremism, terrorism and drug trafficking for making the region a zone of peace and prosperity.

Call for conflict resolution

The summit expressed concern over ongoing conflicts in the region and called for their early resolution based on norms and principles of international law and principles of respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity of the affected states. The leaders observed that the unresolved conflicts were hindering economic growth, preventing realisation of full economic potential of the region and impeding economic cooperation on regional and broader level.

However, only Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict was named in the declaration. Kashmir was, therefore, a glaring omission although highlighting the latest phase of uprising in the occupied valley has been the singular focus of Pakistan’s diplomacy since last July.

Prime Minister Sharif referred to Kashmir conflict in his concluding comments, saying “peaceful settlement of longstanding disputes, like Jammu and Kashmir, and alleviating sufferings of the Kashmiri people would greatly help in advancing the goals of stability and development of the entire region”. However, his mention of Kashmir in his final remarks only reinforced the impression that the government failed to muster support of ECO members for inclusion of Kashmir in the declaration.

The summit criticised travel restrictions and economic sanctions against Iran by the United States although the US was not directly named.

“(We) express concern over the attempts by certain quarters to threaten democracy, discriminatory immigration policies by some states and use of unilateral economic sanctions and coercions by some states,” the declaration says.

It expresses support for democracy in Turkey that faced a botched coup attempt last July.

“(We) further acknowledge the need for supporting measures to immediately address the threats to democratic governments, including coup d’etats aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected governments and constitutional orders of the Member Countries and the foreign occupation of the territories of the Member States, including economic strangulation, which undermine the role of the legitimate democratic governments in pursuing their socio-economic development and programmes,” it says.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2017