Pakistan will host the 30th Meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers in Islamabad on November 15-16, 2026, to focus on regional integration and connectivity, the Foreign Office announced on Saturday.
The meeting will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. It will be attended by heads of delegations and foreign ministers from the 10 ECO member states, which include Iran, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and five Central Asian republics. The Foreign Office stated that the meeting will be preceded by the Meeting of Senior Officials (SOM) to review organizational programs, assess subsidiary bodies, and finalize the agenda and draft outcome documents.
As the chair of the ECO for 2026-2027, Pakistan intends to advance the organization's objectives under the theme "Reviving Regionalism for a Resilient ECO." The Foreign Office stated that Pakistan's chairmanship will focus on deepening regional integration to promote collective efforts toward prosperity and sustainable development.
The Foreign Office said the chairmanship offers an opportunity to position Pakistan as a regional connectivity hub, a facilitator of logistic supply chains, and an agenda setter for regional trade. The office added, "This would also provide an opportunity to reinvigorate the ECO's role as an effective platform for regional cooperation, dialogue, and economic collaboration."
The Foreign Office further noted that these efforts aim to unlock economic potential and ensure that cooperation results in "tangible improvements in the lives of the people of ECO Member States."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to attend the meeting in Islamabad. This comes as Pakistan and Qatar continue efforts to broker a peace deal between Iran and the US amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. Additionally, the Foreign Office reported that Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, has arrived in Islamabad to participate in the meeting.
