The Regional Planning Council is the main technical planning body of the Economic Cooperation Organization and comprises the heads of the Planning Organizations of the Member States as well as officials and experts from the national sectoral ministries and agencies. RPC convenes its annual meetings to “evolve programs of action for realizing the objectives of the Organization along with a review of past programs and evaluation of results achieved to be submitted to the Council of Ministers.” This year the meeting has been held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the meeting, there were various sectoral committees to discuss and formulate ECO’s policies and programs on trade, investment, transport, communications, energy, environment, agriculture, industry, and tourism. ECOEI President, Prof. M. Akif Kireçci, and his delegation were present at the Committee of Human Resources & Sustainable Development and the Committee of ECO’s International Relations & ECO Specialized Agencies, Regional Institutions & Affiliated Bodies Sessions.
At the Committee of Human Resources & Sustainable Development, under the education section, the Committee praised the ECO Educational Institute for organizing successful events and activities, invited ECO members to complete their signing and ratification process of ECOEI Charter, as well as to assign Focal Points and Academic Council to the Institute. The Committee also proposed ECOEI to focus activities around vocational trainings.
At the Committee of ECO’s International Relations & ECO Specialized Agencies, Regional Institutions & Affiliated Bodies, ECOEI’s past activities and future projects are discussed. The Committee praised the ECOEI for successfully holding the 3rd BoT Meeting on August 2020, and congratulated the re-elected President M. Akif Kireçci. The Committee welcomed the Republic of Turkey and ECOEI for signing the Host Country Agreement of 23 July 2020.
The plenary session of the meeting concluded with the adoption of the Report of the 31st RPC, ECO Work Programme, and ECO Calendar of Events for 2021.
