Pakistan has been elected to chair the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Council of Ministers (COM) for the 2026–27 term, following a decision at the 29th ECO Council of Ministers meeting held on Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar led Pakistan’s delegation at the meeting and received congratulations from the foreign ministers of member states on assuming the chairmanship.
Dar thanked them for their support and said Pakistan looked forward to working closely with regional partners, adding that Islamabad will host the next COM meeting in 2026.
ECO was originally established as the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan and Türkiye, and was renamed the Economic Cooperation Organization in 1985. The grouping now covers a region of more than 460 million people and over 8 million square kilometres, connecting South, West, and Central Asia with Europe and the Arab world.
The organisation’s core objective is to promote sustainable economic development and improve the collective welfare of its member states through enhanced regional cooperation.
