Regional bloc: ECO parliamentary moot opens today

Conference aims to promote people-to-people contact and coordination among parliaments.

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, who initiated the idea of establishing a general assembly of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) countries, is set to inaugurate the first parliamentary assembly conference of ECO countries (PAECO) on Monday.

The three-day moot will be addressed by speakers and parliamentarians from ECO countries that include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.



“The assembly will play a vital role in strengthening democracy and protection of human rights,” said the Speaker National Assembly in a statement released by the assembly secretariat.



The assembly of the ECO parliaments aims to promote people-to-people contact and coordination among their parliaments, said the statement.

Besides the deliberative agenda, the speakers of ECO parliaments will ratify its charter. The permanent secretariat of the PAECO will be situated in Islamabad and Dr Mirza will be its first chairperson.

The National Assembly hosted its first meeting in Islamabad in September 2012 where a charter of the assembly was drafted and agreed for formal signature by the PAECO speakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2013.