Turkmenistan: Berdymukhamedov Touts Regional Trade Organization

In the days leading up to a potentially pivotal summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Iran, Turkmenistan's leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, is playing up the possibilities of enhanced regional trade.

The semi-official Turkmenistan.ru website quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying that Ashgabat's active participation in the ECO is "consistent with the guidelines of the national program for social and economic development."

"It becomes even more important that the agenda of the forthcoming summit of the leaders of the ECO member states in the Iranian capital includes issues of trade, investment, transport [and] communications," he added. Berdymukhemedov's optimistic words appear to raise the odds that the March 11 summit could produce some significant agreements, experts believe. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The ECO was formed in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey to promote economic, scientific and inter-cultural cooperation. It expanded in 1992 to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Berdymukhamedov will attend the summit, Turkmenistan.ru confirmed in late February.