On November 9, the Founder of Peace and National  Unity - Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, participated and spoke at the 16th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) that was held in Tashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Leader of the Nation Emomali Rahmon, at the beginning of his speech, thanked the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the traditional hospitality and organization of the summit at a high level, and sincerely congratulated the head of the host state on the occasion of his election as the chairman of the 16th session of the Economic Cooperation Organization. 

At the same time, the efforts of the presidency of the Turkmen side under the chairmanship of the President of Turkmenistan Mr. Serdar Berdimuhamedov regarding the implementation of the decisions of the previous summit were highly appreciated.

Regarding the role of the Organization in the international relations of the Republic of Tajikistan, the President of Tajikistan stated that the issues of steady and sustainable development of cooperation within its framework are defined as one of the important directions of the foreign policy of our country.

In particular, it was revealed that despite the crisis trends in the world economy, the gross domestic product of the Economic Cooperation Organization, which currently amounts to more than two trillion dollars, has maintained a general growth trend.

It is predicted that the average GDP growth in most of the ECO countries will be more than five percent by the end of this year.

At the same time, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon reminded that despite these positive trends, most of the potential of economic cooperation of the member states of the Organization has not been used yet.

In this context, the Honorable Leader of the Nation, Emomali Rahmon, made solid proposals regarding the expansion of mutual relations in order to create favorable systems of cooperation in all sectors of the economy, increase the production of competitive products, promote comprehensive assistance to landlocked member states of the Organization,  establish strong intra-regional and inter-regional transport links, improve production and processing of agricultural products, increase productivity in agriculture as an important part of food security in the region and advance the use of sources of renewable energy, which are considered as one of the main components of the development of "green economy".

Concerning the construction of transport infrastructure in the region of ECO, the President of Tajikistan especially emphasized that we intend to play an appropriate role in the development of transport infrastructure in the direction of East-West and Central-South Asia.

In this context, the President of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, addressed the ECO Secretariat with a comprehensive analysis of the situation and prospects of cooperation in all areas for the purpose of its further development in all areas of interest to the parties.

In conclusion, the Head of State congratulated the Republic of Azerbaijan on the successful completion of its presidency in the Economic Cooperation Organization, and wished success to the Islamic Republic of Iran in connection with the acceptance of the presidency in this Organization.