Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The 16th Executive Ecommittee & Specialized Comimttees’ Meetings of the Economic Cooperation Organization Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO CCI) were held in Karachi, Pakistan at the Islamic Commerce and Industry Chamber’s Karachi Head Office.

Attending the meeting in addition to the TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were; Iran Commerce Industry and Mines Chamber and ECO CCI Term President Dr. Mohammed Nahavandian, Pakistan Commerce and Industry Chambers Federation President Hajı Ghulam Ali, Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Tatyana Zhdanova and representatives of the Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

- Hisarcıklıoğlu: “If we wish to prosper, we must remove the obstacles to trade”

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the Executive Committee, stated that as of the end of 2010 the region has conducted a total of 680 billion dollars in trade and 47.6 billion dollars in internal trade.

Hisarcıklıoğlu drew attention to the importance of implementing the Economic Cooperation Organisation Trade Agreement (ECOTA) which will remove obstacles preventing trade, saying, “Observe, if you will, intra-ECO trade as of 2010 is 7%. You will remember this figure from 2009 since, unfortunately, there has been no significant increase in intra-region trade since then. In the last three years, we have only succeeded in increasing our intra-region trade by 1%. We cannot make our people prosper with this speed and mentality.”

- Call for arbitration

Stating that an arbitration system to provide solutions to commercial disputes in the region, Hisarcıklıoğlu called for the implementation of an arbitration system between ECO member countries.

Stating that, “There can be no trade without roads,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said in reference to the world’s oldest trade route being in the ECO region, that the Silk Road must be revitalized with land routes and railways.

- Istanbul – Tehran – Islamabad Freightliner Cooperation Agreement was signed

On another note the Istanbul – Tehran – Islamabad Freightliner Cooperation Agreement was signed between Turkey, Iran and Pakistan Chambers Unions for the modernization of the moving parts of the Istanbul – Tehran – Islamabad Freightliner, lowering the transportation process to 13 days and furthering the cooperation between ECO member countries. It was also decided that the Chambers Unions of the three countries would each establish companies in this regard.

The 16th Executive Ecommittee & Specialized Comimttees’ Meetings of the Economic Cooperation Organization Chamber of Commerce and Industry ended with the press meeting attended by the delegations of Turkey, Iran, Pakistan Chamber Presidents and Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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