Sezer Takes Over E.C.O. Term Presidency From Iranian President Khatami

ISTANBUL - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer took over Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Term Presidency from Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
The veventh summit started in Ciragan Palace after representatives and heads of state of 10 ECO member countries took their place.
Khatami, who has carried out ECO Term Presidency for two years, addressed the opening ceremony and thanked for the support expended by ECO member countries.
Khatami later invited President Sezer to take over the term presidency.
President Sezer, who addressed the opening ceremony, expressed his gratefulnness to Iran which has carried out term presiency of ECO for two years.
''Turkey will exert every kind of efforts to fulfill its responsibilities,'' Sezer said pointing out that the meeting would continue closed to the press.
SEZER: TURKEY WISHES ECO TO CONTRIBUTE TO RECONSTRUCTION IN AFGHANISTAN
Sezer said that the historical developments that took place in Eurasia in the beginning of 1990s brought a relative free atmosphere to the international society.
Ahmet Necdet Sezer said that the organization expanded to the east and the north in 1992 and newly independent states Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan joined the organization. Sezer said that ECO celebrates the tenth anniversary of these seven countries' joining the organization in 1992.
''The world passes through globalization in the last 20 years and this process speeds up. The developments in communication and information technologies and the movement of the capital in the world necessitates mutual dependency and solidarity in international relations. We believe that we must further improve our relations to benefit effectively from the means of globalization process. We wish the effects of globalization on the developing countries to be fairer. There are certain ideas that the benefits of globalization are not shared among countries in an equal way. We believe that developing countries should share their economic possibilities and increase their regional cooperation initiatives in order to be protected from the negative effects of globalization,'' Sezer said.
Sezer said that ECO, set up by 10 member countries, had a population of 350 million, an area of 8 million kilometers squares and important natural resources.
This area covering a large geography from the west of China to the east of the Balkans, provided many regional economic cooperation opportunities to its members, Sezer noted.
Sezer said, ''enlargement of ECO not only provides new opportunities but also brings new responsibilities to the member countries. There are rightful hopes and expectations about contribution of the organization to development of new member countries which do not have any access to the sea.''
Noting that Afghanistan, one of the new members, had a special position, Sezer stated that Afghanistan lost a great deal of its human resources as a result of the internal conflicts and foreign interventions in the last 20 years and almost all of its infrastructure was demolished.
Sezer noted that five ECO members had common borders with Afghanistan and said that Turkey also shared a common history and culture with that country.
Turkey had done its best and contributed to the restructuring process of Afghanistan, Sezer stressed.
Sezer said, ''ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan is closely linked with ending poverty in this country and ensuring a sustainable development. We believe that settlement of a permanent peace in Afghanistan will make significant contribution to not only the regional peace but also the world peace. We sincerely hope that ECO will contribute to restructuring of Afghanistan. To this end, we think that it will be appropriate if the organization acts sensitively about assistance to Afghanistan.''
''Consent of the Afghan government has to be taken and priorities of the Afghan people have to be regarded when putting into practice new projects of the organization in Afghanistan. ECO has to firstly fulfil projects on expertise. The organization's projects in Afghanistan should be complementary of the initiatives conducted by the international community in this country,'' Sezer noted.
Sezer added, ''we think that it will be beneficial to contact countries that can make donations and international finance organizations to fulfil these projects. I would like to reiterate that Turkey is ready to help Afghanistan within the framework of these principles.''
SEZER: INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF ECO IS IMPORTANT FOR REACHING ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL TARGETS
Sezer said that there were some criticisms that the organization was insufficient to meet expectations of member countries despite its rich natural resources and wide opportunities.
Sezer noted that it was claimed that the organization was slow in reaching the economic and commercial targets.
''The fact that some of these criticisms are right cannot be denied. Increasing the efficiency and productivity of ECO is important for reaching economic and commercial targets. We hope that efforts of the group of the high-level officials will give successful results. Turkey considers ECO as a forum that can develop regional economic cooperation and attributes a special importance to activities of this organization,'' Sezer said.
Sezer stated, ''the organization should meet needs of the member countries and respond to their expectations. We consider this as a necessity of our common interests. An efficient and productive organization will help increase of welfare level of member countries and make peace and stability permanent in the region.''
President Sezer stressed, ''Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, three founder countries, envisage to form a Trade and Development Bank in order to finance economic development of the region. Such a bank will make an important contribution to regional economic cooperation.''
''Trade volume among the regional countries is far away from the desired levels. We have to expend more efforts to increase our trade volume. Turkey has been supporting efforts to decrease the tariff and non-tariff obstacles in front of regional countries. I believe that it will be beneficial to take into consideration the method envisaged in the Izmir Agreement, the foundation document of the ECO. This method foresees a gradual decrease in tariff. Therefore, ECO Trade Agreement should be signed as soon as possible,'' he said.
President Sezer noted, ''representatives of private sectors of the member countries can accelerate trade among the regional countries. They need some new arrangements to this end. According to my point of view, it will be beneficial to hold a ECO Business Forum during the summit meeting in Istanbul.''
President Sezer said that he was pleased to learn that the forum which was held in cooperation with the International Trade Center and by the contributions of Turkey completed its studies with success and that the reports and proposals of the meeting were submitted to the foreign ministers meeting. ''If this activity which was held for the first time can be institutionalized by encouraging the private sector in our countries, this will bring new advantages to us. The importance of developing cooperation in the field of transportation is clear for an organization which has seven landlocked member states. We appreciate the test train journeys held on the main route of Istanbul-Tehran-Turkmenabad-Tashkent-Almaty-Transasia to carry passengers and cargo and the efforts of ECO countries which try to revive the Silk Road. We wish the member states to intensify their efforts to make these train trips regular. This will contribute to development of both tourism and trade among member states,'' Sezer said.
President Sezer said that the ECO countries whose energy sources are in a rich geography can both increase their prosperity level and also contribute to the political and economic stability of the region by developing cooperation in energy.
Recalling that Turkey was a transit country in transportation of oil and natural gas, produced in neighbors, to the world markets, Sezer said workings in this respect continued without intervals.
Sezer said it was their target to make Turkey, which has the position of a growing energy market, undertake the function of a dominant energy corridor in the near future.
Sezer said Turkey was grateful for the credit, donated by Islamic Development Bank, to be used in feasibility studies of the project regarded with connection of electricity energy lines of the member countries to each other.
Sezer concluded his words as saying: ''Turkey calls for reaching the targets foreseen in Izmir Agreement. Turkey, during its term presidency, will exert intense efforts to make OIC a lively and dynamic institution meeting the demands and expectations of the member countries. I believe that Istanbul Summit will constitute a turning point in development process and undertake important functions in development and prosperity of the region.''