ISTANBUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai received a pledge of support from fellow members of the 10-state Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) on Monday after calling for more aid for his shattered country.

The ECO heads of state "support the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to restore peace and stability ... in a country ravaged by war, as well as reconstruction work by the establishment of an ECO fund," they said in a statement released at the end of the meeting.

"The member countries have agreed to set up an aid fund for Afghanistan for financing and coordinating various projects in that country," Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev told AFP.

"We plan to carry out a working group meeting soon to determine what contribution each country can make," he added.

Earlier in the day Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer called on ECO members, which had previously indicated only that they would join in lobbying international financial institutions for more aid to Kabul, to take "specific measures" to assist Afghanistan.

The leaders were meeting in Istanbul to discuss promoting cooperation in trade, investment and communications in their gas- and oil-rich region of more than 300 million people.

Karzai said Afghanistan would like more assistance from ECO countries in the priority areas of transport, communications, energy, oil and gas, and in energy production.

"The consolidation of peace and stability depends on regional cooperation and the sustained engagement of the international community for the reconstruction of Afghanistan," he was quoted as saying by Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

The Afghan and Turkish presidents were joined at the meeting by the presidents of Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Formed in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, ECO now comprises the Muslim non-Arab countries west of India, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.