President Abdullah Gül welcomed Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is in İstanbul to attend the ECO summitThursday, December 23, 2010
ECO countries talk regional cooperation in İstanbul
The foreign ministers of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states convened in İstanbul yesterday on the sidelines of an ECO summit to be held today, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül held bilateral talks with foreign leaders before the summit.
Speaking at the opening of the 19th Council of Ministers (COM) meeting, Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu said they will discuss “important topics related to regional cooperation” and exchange views on global economic subjects.
Noting that Turkey is located in a sensitive region plagued with armed conflict and hot spots, Davutoğlu said Turkey is pursuing a multifaceted, proactive, constructive and visionary foreign policy and aims to greatly contribute to establishing security, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond. The foreign minister said Turkey has made notable progress in reaching the 2015 goals set by the organization and that the country is “ready to help all other countries reach the 2015 goals.”
The 11th ECO Summit will primarily cover a midterm assessment of a vision document adopted in 2005 in Astana that set goals for the organization to be reached by 2015.
Before the key summit on Thursday, Gül held bilateral talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov in İstanbul. Erdoğan was also expected to meet with Aliyev and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad late on Wednesday.
The prime minister plans to host a dinner for the foreign leaders on Wednesday. Davutoğlu noted that ECO has matured into a distinct international economic platform serving a population of 400 million and said the natural resources and dynamic labor force of the member states have created a significant strength and opportunity, with current global economic challenges having recently shown the importance of organizations such as ECO.
Davutoğlu also urged all member countries to sign and ratify the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) in the shortest time possible and called on them to join the ECOBANK established in İstanbul as the bank of the organization. links ~ network. http://www.ecosecretariat.org/ftproot/Documents/Agreements/ECOTA.htm)
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Davutoğlu, Salehi discuss nuclear talks
Davutoğlu also held bilateral talks with newly appointed Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in İstanbul on Wednesday after the first panel of the ministerial meeting. This was Salehi’s first trip overseas. He was previously Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator before former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was suddenly sacked by the Iranian government.
The two foreign ministers discussed bilateral ties and regional issues in an hour-long meeting and that Salehi reiterated that Iran attaches importance to its relations with Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported diplomatic sources as saying. Salehi and Davutoğlu also discussed the second round of nuclear talks with major powers to be held in İstanbul in January following a meeting in Geneva earlier this month.
Speaking at the event, Salehi said ECO has enormous potential in regional cooperation and that the future of the organization is hopeful.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-230440-eco-countries-talk-regional-cooperation-in-istanbul.html
ECOBANK is a private sector banking group based in 13 countries of West and Central Africa, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo where over 109 branches and offices have been created in the last fifteen years. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) plays a central role in the definition and implementation of common policies and standards on the basis of a “one bank” concept across the group’s
ECO Trade and Development Bank in Brief The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank is a Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) established on August 3, 2005 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which are the founding members of the ECO. The Headquarters Agreement of the Bank was ratified by the Republic of Turkey in July 2007 completing the formalities to establish the Bank.
Being an MDB, the Bank is not a profit maximizing organization but would rather focus on financing development programmes and projects at reasonable costs with a favourable repayment conditions as pursued by other MDBs such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, etc. Overall, the Bank would take lending decisions solely on the merits of projects, programmes, or other transactions proposed and tailor borrowing in line with the best opportunities available in the capital markets. It would specifically consider the relevancy and impact of its operations to the development objectives of the member countries. The membership to the Bank is expected to increase soon by joining of other ECO member states as well as their Banks and financial institutions.
The Bank would contribute towards the medium and long-term financing needs of the region and thereby help to promote sustainable development and regional integration in both the public and private sectors. It would also aim to become an important institutional vehicle for mobilizing funds in international capital markets for the region’s development needs.
http://www.etdb.org/AboutTheBank/BankInBrief/Pages/Default.aspx
