Turkey on Thursday urged for the trade deal between member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to be put into action as soon as possible.
Addressing ECO’s virtual 14th Leaders Summit, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also called for the members to develop their ties with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and urged for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
“Putting into action the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement (ECOTA), which has not been put into force for 17 years, without wasting time will be beneficial,” Erdoğan noted.
Turkey is one of the founding members of the Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organization, which was established in 1985, along with Iran and Pakistan.
In 1992, the organization expanded to include seven new members including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
ECO covers an area of approximately 8 million square kilometers (3 million square miles) with a population of 400 million.