President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived Wednesday in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, to attend the 16th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) scheduled between Nov. 8-9, as per Anadolu Agency (AA) reports.
Arriving at Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport, Erdoğan was welcomed by Uzbekistan's Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Tashkent Governor Shavkat Umurzakov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bobur Usmanov, Türkiye's Ambassador to Tashkent Olgan Bekar and his wife Nurgül Bekar along with Uzbekistan's Ambassador to Ankara Alisher Agzamhodjayev.
Erdoğan will address the summit session in Tashkent and is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with participating leaders on the sidelines of the 16th summit of the organization.
Discussions on various topics, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the organization of which Türkiye is a founding member, as well as improving trade, transportation networks and connectivity among member countries, are planned.
The ECO is a political and economic intergovernmental organization founded by Türkiye, Pakistan and Iran in 1985 to serve as a platform to discuss and improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities. It currently has seven more members: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The ECO Summit, held every two years at the level of heads of state and government, has been held 15 times so far, and the last summit was held in Turkmenistan in November 2021.
Apart from Erdoğan, Iranian President Ibrahim Reisi, Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon and Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedov are to attend the summit, according to AA reports.
