A 7th Meeting of the High Level Working Group on Standardization, Conformity Assessment, Accreditation and Metrology was virtually hosted by Islamic Republic of Iran on December 8, 2020 to discuss the ways and means of promoting and expanding mutual and multi-lateral cooperation in the field of Standardization, Conformity, Accreditation, and Metrology amongst the Member States. The relevant representatives of the ECO Member States, ECO Secretariat and Regional Institute for Standardization, Conformity Assessment, Accreditation and Metrology attended the meeting.

On the invitation of International Energy Charter, a delegation of the Economic Cooperation Organization headed by honourable ECO Secretary General H.E. Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour, participated in the Baku International Energy Charter Forum held virtually on October 28, 2020 under the theme of “Transition to renewables in power generation, transport, heating and cooling: modern challenges and trends”.

On October 14, 2020 “Perspectives and Challenges of Regional Electricity Markets: Harnessing Trade and Investment Opportunities” jointly organized by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Secretariat and the Energy Charter Secretariat. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the meeting was held by online means.

Tehran, Iran, 23 June 2020 - The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), with the financial support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), organized a regional meeting to validate the feasibility and viability of a Clean Energy Centre for the ECO region (CECECO). The meeting was held online due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The 6th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture preceded by 5th High Level Experts Meeting (HLEM) on Agriculture was held on 3-4 December 2019 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan under the chairmanship of H.E. Mr. Inam Karimov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

ECO Seed Association (ECOSA) and Turkish Seed Union (TURKTOB) have jointly organized the 7th ECO Regional Seed Trade Congress in Antalya, Turkey between 29 November and 01 December 2019 with the attendance of more than 200 businessmen and stakeholders from ECO region. The congress was preceded by Growtech 18th International Greenhouse, Agricultural Technologies and Livestock Fair has which hosted 86.780 visitors from 120 countries and over 800 brands from 30 countries in Antalya, Turkey.

The 2nd Training Course on Drought Monitoring and Prediction in ECO Region was held at ECO Secretariat Tehran, on 12-13 November, 2019. The course was attended by the delegations from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran (Host), the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Turkey as well as the representatives of ECO Secretariat.

On the invitation of International Energy Charter, ECO Secretariat participated in the Baku International Energy Charter Forum held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 23-24 October 2019. The forum was jointly organized by the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and the International Energy Charter on the theme of “Enabling Energy Transformation through Technology and Policy Innovations”. More than 200 participants, including Ministers, high-level officials and leading experts from Member and Observer countries, international organizations, the energy industry and academia participated in the Forum.

The 4th Steering Committee Meeting of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC) was held on 25 October 2019 in Accra, Ghana. The GN-SEC represents an innovative south-south and triangular multi-stakeholder partnership to accelerate the energy and climate transformation in developing countries. Since 2010, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) assists the regional economic communities/organizations and their member states in the establishment and operation of regional sustainable energy promotion centres.

The delegation of the Iran's Institute of International Energy Studies (IIES), headed by Dr. Ali Mobini-Dehkordi, Managing Director of the Institute visited the ECO Secretariat on 3 June 2019 to have an ECO-IIES consultation meeting.