Today, Uzbekistan is pursuing an active, pragmatic and multilateral foreign policy. An important area of our country's foreign policy activity is cooperation with countries of the near and far abroad, as well as international organizations – the CIS, SCO, OTS, ECO and many others. Among them, the Organization for Economic Cooperation (ECO) occupies a special place.

The Economic Cooperation Organization is a regional intergovernmental organization established in 1985 in Tehran (Iran). Its goal is to expand trade and investment relations between the countries of South and Central Asia and the Middle East. ECO has an observer status in the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The main directions of ECO cooperation are determined at the summits of the heads of member States held every two years. Today, ten countries have joined the ECO - Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan joined the ECO in 1992. Since 2017, the summit of heads of State has been held regularly every two years.

Within the framework of this year's summit in Tashkent, proposals and initiatives aimed at increasing trade turnover, removing trade barriers and simplifying the movement of goods and services, as well as developing transport and communication links and expanding the transit potential of the region will be discussed. In addition, the agenda of the current Summit includes the development of industrial cooperation, partnership in the field of energy, tourism, climate change and environmental protection, as well as cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

In each direction, Uzbekistan proposes to adopt specific programs and roadmaps, the implementation of which will strengthen economic and humanitarian ties in the ECO space.

For reference: in 2022, the share of Uzbekistan's international trade among ECO member states was as follows: Kazakhstan (37.5%) and Türkiye (26.3%), Kyrgyzstan (10.2%), Turkmenistan (7.5%), Afghanistan (6.1%), Tajikistan (5.5%), Iran (3.5%), Pakistan (1.9%) and Azerbaijan (1.5%). The total trade turnover of the ECO member states in 2022 amounted to over $1 trillion.

According to the results of 9 months of 2023, Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover with the ECO countries amounted to $9.2 billion, while the share of ECO countries in the total trade turnover of Uzbekistan amounted to 20.5%.

In order to increase and stimulate intraregional trade, Uzbekistan's experts, together with the ECO secretariat, are working on the development and coordination of a Trade Facilitation Agreement with the Organization's countries, the first meeting of the joint working group of which was held on June 22 in Ankara. The agreement will ensure the harmonization, simplification and digitalization of customs administration procedures, technical regulation, sanitary, phytosanitary, and veterinary control with the launch of a regional e-commerce platform.

Equally important is the strengthening of transport interconnectedness within the ECO, bearing in mind the development and diversification of transport corridors inside and outside the territories of the organization's member countries.

According to experts, the results of the current summit will make it possible to reach breakthrough agreements and significantly intensify the implementation of major regional-scale projects of great importance for the ECO member states.