ECO summit kicks off in Tehran

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The 10th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) kicked off in Tehran Wednesday morning with the participation of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. “Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev will deliver a speech after the opening ceremony and then hand over the ECO presidency to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” Fars news agency reported. The 18th ECO foreign ministerial meeting started work in Tehran on Monday morning to prepare the grounds for the ECO Summit. Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental international organization involving ten regional nations, the Islamic republic news agency reported. ”Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are the ECO member states, while Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Kaliefa and Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa take part in the meeting as guests of honors,” it added. The summit will review the world’s financial crisis and ways to face the economic challenges. It will also hold talks on the techniques to accelerate the implementation of agreements between ECO member states and fighting drug trafficking. SH (S) 1