BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 13. The 14th
Ministerial Meeting on Transport of the Economic Cooperation
Organization (ECO) will be held on October 15, 2026, in Astana, ECO
said.
"Hosted by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the
margins of the Astana New Silk Way Forum, the Ministerial Meeting
will gather ministers and high-level transport officials from the
ECO Member States to discuss ways and means to enhance
intra–regional connectivity," ECO said.
The organization noted that experts from the member states have
so far held four online preparatory meetings to discuss the two
outcome documents of the ministerial meeting: the ECO 10-year
Transport Strategy and the Astana Declaration.
Senior officials from the member states will hold the final
preparatory meeting in Astana on October 14 to finalize the outcome
documents. They will also review developments within the ECO since
the previous ministerial meeting, held in Tehran in June 2025,
which focused, among other issues, on digitalization and
sustainability.
As part of the meeting, a dialogue with representatives of the
ECO private sector will be held on October 15 to discuss
public-private partnerships in the digitalization and financing of
the ECO transport sector. The outcome of the private sector meeting
will be incorporated into the ECO Ministerial Declaration.
"Connectivity has always been a major priority area for the ECO
and its Member States. The ECO Region is composed of land-locked
and transit countries. Three ECO transit countries have significant
potential and capacities to unlock the potential of the 7
land-locked Member States through connecting them to the global
markets. The ECO Region’s transit network is critical for
neighbouring countries and regions, too. It has significant and
unparalleled capacity to facilitate international trade by
connecting China to Europe, and Russia and North Europe to the
Persian Gulf, the Oman Gulf and Indian Ocean", ECO said.
