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The Economic Cooperation Organization ECO is the successor organization of RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development that was formed in 1964 leveraging the status being in American block) and was re-formed in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey under a mutual agreement to further enhance cooperation in economic, trade and tourism sectors due to border connectivity. The ECO was expanded in 1992 after the collapse of the USSR to include seven new members, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and uzbekistan. The main objective of ECO was to develop necessary infrastructure and institutions among the member states to make full use of the available resources in the region and provide sustainable development. It should be kept in mind that Central Asia (CA) was the region of the 'Great Game' between the British and Imperial Russia. This BritishRussian competition was significant not only because of the hydrocarbon resources but also for struggle for influence. Elaborating one other historical fact of World War II, one of Germany's central goals was to expand southeast into the Caucuses and CA to gain control of the farmland and natural energy resources.
The 13th Meeting of the ECO Heads of State and Governments was hosted by Pakistan on 1st March 2017, this was preceded by the 22nd meeting of the EcO Council of Foreign Ministers on 28th February 2017 in Islamabad. Senior officials from Member States met on 27th February 2017 in Islamabad to make final preparations for the Summit. The Summit reviewed the affairs of ECO in the light of the new and emerging global and regional circumstances and agreed on course of actions that ECO should follow in expanding regional economic cooperation among its member states. The new ECO Vision 2025 was also adopted.
At the opening session, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected as chairman of ECO; he took over chairmanship from President of Azerbaijan H.E Ilham Aliyev. Addressing the Summit after assuming chairmanship, Nawaz Sharif called for "intensified collaboration to exploit enormous potential of ECO to turn the region into a citadel of peace, progress and prosperity. The main theme of the Summit, Connectivity for Regional Prosperity, represents our collective vision to build ECO into a community of shared prosperity through greater economic integration and close people-to-people...