Founding of Economic Cooperation Organization

The Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental organization for economic, technical and cultural cooperation among countries of West, Central and South Asia. It was set up in Tehran by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, as a successor to an earlier cooperation body that those three countries had formed during the Cold War. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It aims to improve trade, transport links and energy cooperation across the region. Its results have been modest, in part because of political tensions, weak infrastructure and differing economic interests among the members.

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