On Tuesday (January 24), Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent held the 26th Meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Council of Foreign Ministers. The two-day fair under the Chairmanship of Uzbekistan saw the ECO Secretariat and the Foreign Ministries of Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Iran, Pakistan, and countries representing the Central Asian region. The ECO Secretary-General Khusrav Noziri, in his interview with the Daryo news agency, spoke of some elements discussed during the international fair.
Your Excellency Khusrav Noziri, in December 2022, the ECO declared Shakhrisabz as its tourism capital for 2024. What does it mean for Shakhrisabz?
We started this tradition in Dushanbe. In 2021, by the decision of the Council of Ministers for Tourism in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), for the first time, the capital of Tajikistan was declared the capital of tourism. The Iranian cities, including Sari, the capital of the province of Mazandaran, and Ardabil for 2022 and 2023, followed. These cities have taken relevant measures, particularly regular meetings of the tourism councils. The fact that the city is declared as the capital of tourism indeed serves as an additional incentive and supplementary opportunity for these cities to attract more tourists to their countries and for further tourism development in the member states. In this context, I am more than confident that in the year of the proclamation of Shahrisabs as the tourist capital, we will witness significant events in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, particularly in this beautiful historical city of Shahrisabs.
How will this boost the tourism sector?
In December last year, under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan, the fourth regular meeting of the Ministers of Tourism of the ECO member countries was held in a virtual format. During the Ministers of Tourism meeting, two essential documents were approved, namely, the Samarkand Declaration - a very extensive, informative document that covers all parties and aspects of strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism. It also adopted a road map to promote accelerated recovery and safe, sustainable development in the tourism sector following the COVID-19 pandemic in the ECO region. These documents aim to ensure the recovery in the field of tourism in our time. As you know, the region has considerable resources in tourism - and historical, cultural, medical, and ecotourism. All kinds of tourism in our area are present. We note the growth in the number of tourists arriving in the region. But the potential is excellent...
Greater!
It is more significant, indeed. And we think that these activities that we are carrying out within our organization in all six priority areas will contribute to further development.
Can you highlight the key points of today's meeting?
I want to say that it was the first time for Uzbekistan and the history of its membership in ECO to chair the regional intergovernmental organization consisting of ten member states. It's one of the oldest regional organizations in the world because the history of its establishment goes to the 60s of the last century. But if we talk about the outcomes of today's meeting, I would like to say that one of this organization's most important decisions is adopting the outcome document, which is the Tashkent communique. This comprehensive document covers all priority areas of our activity, including trade and investment, transport and connectivity, energy, minerals, environment, tourism, sustainable development, etc. Besides, the ministers make decisions on several important initiatives. One of them is the decision to establish a high-level committee to discuss and develop new proposals and recommendations for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our organization. As I said before, the basis of this proposal is the initiative of the honourable President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which he announced during the last SCO summit in Ashgabat in November 2021. The second important decision was establishing the high-level dialogue platform on environmental cooperation, which was also developed based on the initiative of the honourable President of the Republic of Uzbekistan announced during the SCO summit in Ashgabat 2021. Also, there was a decision to establish a regional centre for risk management of natural disasters, and a treaty event was organized. And the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the host country of this newly established regional centre, signed the charter of a regional centre for risk management of natural disasters.
Khusrav Noziri is a national of the Republic of Tajikistan who took over his responsibilities as the 13th Secretary-General of the ECO in August 2021.
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