The 15th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was held in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan, on 1 October 2005. The meeting was attended by Ministers and high-ranking officials from ECO member States including the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Republic of Uzbekistan. The ECO Secretary General, some staff of the ECO Secretariat and representatives of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and International Trade Centre (ITC) were also in attendance. Dr Ahmed Sidahmed, Director of Knowledge Management and Dissemination, represented ICARDA at the meeting.

Opening session. Left, ECO Secretary General, H.E. Mr Askhat Orazbay; Right, H.E. Mr Kassymazhomart Tokaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan , Chairman.	Dr Ahmed Sidahmed (right), Director , Mega-Project 6, held discussions with H.E. Abdullah Abdullah (left), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan.

The meeting was inaugurated by Mr Talbak Nazarov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan and outgoing chairman of the Council of Ministers (COM), who highlighted the progress made by ECO and expressed his satisfaction over ECO's increasing activities in both regional and international cooperation. The Council of Ministers unanimously elected H.E. Mr. Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as its new Chairman.

The ECO Secretary General, Mr. Askhat Orazbay, presented a report of ECO's activities since the 14th meeting in 2004. Presentations and statements were made by the heads of delegation of the various countries and organizations. ICARDA's representative, Dr Ahmed Sidahmed, provided a written statement that highlighted the Center's collaborative work with ECO member countries in their effort to develop and rehabilitate agriculture. He informed participants of ICARDA's new strategic research program that aims to enhance the benefits of its research results to a wider cross-section of end-users.

A major outcome of the meeting was the adoption of the "ECO Vision 2015", which will serve as a basic policy guideline for ECO activities in the next 10 years, including targets to be achieved in trade and investment; transport and communication; energy; finance and economy; project and economic research; industry; agriculture; environment; human resource development and poverty alleviation; drug control, organized crimes and related matters; and tourism. The meeting also discussed issues relating to the role of ECO in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and re-affirmed its resolve to participate in international efforts aimed at the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Specific declarations that are of relevance to ICARDA include: to assure food security by 2015 by increasing accessibility and availability of food through enhancing food production, preventing food losses at different stages of production and diversification of food resources through the utilization of new technologies; to adopt a common and effective approach to prevent the spread of animal diseases and pests of plants and plant products through integrated policies/plans; and to use natural resources, especially water, in the region through water management policies/programs/plans, utilization of new technologies and increasing water-use efficiency in the region. ICARDA was referred to by the Chairman as an example of institutions that ECO should involve more in future cooperation to achieve these goals.

Dr Sidahmed met with the ECO Secretary General, Mr Ashhat Orazbay, and the Assistant Secretary General for Trade, Industry and Agriculture, Mr Orhan Isik, who both informed him of ECO Secretariat's intention to request ICARDA to implement the "Technical Assistance Project for Seed Security and Production" in Afghanistan, which is at the final stages of design by FAO and approval by ECO, and the "Eco-regional Food Security Program" which is at the initial design stages. He met with the Deputy Secretary General of OIC and the Regional Director of IDB, with whom he discussed IDB's contribution to ICARDA's grant proposal to IFAD. He also met with Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who expressed his gratitude to ICARDA for its continuing support to rehabilitate agriculture in Afghanistan.

For more information contact: Dr Ahmed Sidahmed