ISLAMABAD – Delegates began arriving in Islamabad on Sunday for the 30th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Council of Ministers, with regional connectivity and integration on the agenda.
The two-day meeting, scheduled for Nov 15 and 16, will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. Foreign ministers and heads of delegations from ECO member states will attend, along with representatives of the organisation’s secretariat and subsidiary bodies, the Foreign Office (FO) said.
Turkiye’s Deputy Foreign Minister Musa Kulaklikaya, who is leading his country’s delegation, was received at the airport by foreign ministry officials. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Deputy Secretary General Ahmad Saidmurodzoda also arrived in the capital, the FO said.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov and Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Issagaliyev were among the other arrivals. Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, arrived on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to attend as Pakistan and Qatar seek to broker a peace deal between Iran and the United States amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Senior officials from ECO member states will meet ahead of the ministerial session to review the organisation’s programmes and the work of its subsidiary bodies. They will also finalise the agenda and draft outcome documents for the ministers’ consideration.
Pakistan holds the ECO chair for 2026–27 and has set “Reviving Regionalism for a Resilient ECO” as the theme for its term, the FO said.
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