Eco Summit Heralds a Win-win Situation for all Members

Abstract

Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), a successor of Regional Cooperation Development (RCD), has not been able to create any major impact at domestic, regional or global economies so far. The ECO member countries house 16 per cent of global population yet contribute only 2.5 per cent to the global GDP. The intra-regional trade among the ECO member states is currently eight per cent of their cumulative external trade. It is in this context, economic analysts had low expectations from the 13th ECO summit held in Islamabad (Pakistan) on March 1, 2017. However, in geo-political terms, the summit brought a win-win situation for all the member states.