TEHRAN—Kish Island in the south of Iran will host ambassadors, managers, and tourism activists of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states in a symposium on the tourism market during May 13-15.

The event will be organized by Secretariat of Tourism Market Symposium, Gardoon Tourism Group and Mica Rad Atieh Kish Educational Company with cooperation of Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, ECO Secretariat, and Kish Free Zone Organization, Eqtesad-e Iran reported.  

The symposium will be inaugurated in an official ceremony with participation of ECO Secretary General Asad Majeed Khan, high-ranking officials of Tourism Ministry, ambassadors, senior officials of tourism field of eight ECO member states and senior managers of ECO’s tourism brands in the first day. 

It will continue through holding 11 training workshops from the second day. 

In addition, domestic and foreign business-to-business (B2B) meetings will be held on the sidelines of the symposium as one of the most important international investment opportunities in tourism industry. 

The Economic Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental organization that promotes economic, technical, and cultural cooperation among its member states.

Established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, the organization’s other member states include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The ECO is a successful and promising regional organization, and Iran has a serious interest in strengthening intra-regional cooperation and promoting the position of ECO as an effective regional mechanism for economic connectivity.

The international position of the organization is growing.

The importance of the organization became more apparent when the United Nations approved in 1985 that ECO become an observer member of the United Nations, as did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The ECO Region shelters more than 460 million inhabitants and expands over eight million square kilometers of land, connecting the north to south, south, and east to the west, Asia to Europe, and Eurasia to the Arab World. Composed of some Caucasus, South, West, and Central Asian countries, ECO is one of the oldest intergovernmental organizations.

The founding and fundamental goal of the Organization is to create amenable and conducive conditions for the continued promotion of sustainable economic development in the region, aiming at joint welfare and well-being of the Member States.

The ECO stretched the fabric of its cooperative partnership in the early 1990s, welcoming the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as five Central Asian nations, including the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as its members.

The ECO member states, bearing their shared cultural and historic affinities in mind, appear to be always ready, receptive, and forthcoming to complement each other, intensifying their collaboration with action and result-oriented motives to achieve the perceived target of greater connectivity and integration in the region.
KD