ECO trade facilitation and trade development strategy
Mamoona Ismail

Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of providing economic, technical and cultural cooperation. The objectives of the Organization include expansion of mutual trade and promotion of conditions for sustained economic growth in the region. ECO is the successor organization of regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which remained in existence from 1964 to 1979. Subsequently the Organization was restructured and reviewed under its present name ECO in 1985. Its present membership of ten includes Islamic State of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kyrghyztan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan. In order to provide a proper legal basis to ECO the basic document of the Organization, Treaty of Izmir of 1977, was amended at a ministerial level meeting held at Islamabad in June 1990. The amended Treaty of Izmir was subsequently ratified by the founding members with the Organization being fully operational in its revitalized form by early 1991.
The activities of ECO comprise projects and programmes of mutual benefit in the fields of economic and commercial cooperation; transport and communications; agriculture; energy; infrastructure and public works; narcotics and educational, scientific and cultural matters. Integration into the global economy is not just desirable but also a necessary and inevitable modality for ensuring economic viability and survival in a highly competitive global market place. The member states of ECO, therefore, need to devise and implement a strategy (preferably within WTO framework), which not only protect them from the negative effects of the globalization, but also help them to conform with the requirements of the global economic system. Different regional organizations have already made huge strides in fostering closer cooperation among their members in areas of trade facilitation. ECO members cannot afford to be left behind and are taking concrete steps to forge deeper cooperation for development for trade in the ECO region.
This task is full of challenges, stemming essentially from the inherent economic structures and policy frameworks of majority of the ECO member states. The ECO grouping includes a diverse range of economies, each at different stages of economic development, market and institutional maturity and openness to trade and investment flows. For a long time, most of the ECO member states remained closed and inward looking, discouraging foreign direct investment and imports with high tariff and nontariff mechanisms. Problems involving customs rules and procedures often posed serious impediments to routine operations of businesses involved in intra-regional trade. These problems can impact unevenly on small and medium sized enterprises which generally, do not have experience and resources to cope with. They can also impact adversely on foreign investment because investors in less developed countries often rely on imported goods.
The need for simplification and harmonization of customs rules and procedures and rationalization of tariff structures is quite apparent for ECO member states, many of whom are already suffering from high transaction costs. In pursuance of these objectives, a number of projects and programs have been embarked upon during the past five years.
These ECO projects and programs can broadly be categorized as under:
Trade liberalization activities.
Trade facilitation and promotion activities.
The idea behind these projects/programs is to lay down the necessary regulatory framework, in a region-wide context, that facilitates and allows the business communities of the region to exploit the emerging opportunities.
(a) Trade Liberalization ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA)
The main thrust of the work in the field of trade liberalization has been towards the reduction of tariffs and removal of non-tariff barriers in the ECO region. While trade does not obviate the need for large scale supported development investments, an open and equitable trading system can be a powerful driver of economic growth in the ECO region, especially when combined with adequate political support. Therefore, implementation of ECOTA and relevant trade facilitation programs rightly lies at the heart of the trade development in the region. The ECO countries strive to dismantle market access barriers and begin phasing out trade barriers in the region in order to pave the way for free trade area. The 3rd Ministerial Meeting on Commerce/Foreign Trade (July 7, 2005) approved and signed a “Protocol for the annexes of ECOTA on (i) ECO Rules of Origin (ii) Anti-Dumping Measures, (iii) State Aid, and (iv) Intellectual Property Rights”. The said Protocol was signed by four Member States, i.e. Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. Moreover, Pakistan has already ratified the said Protocol. This achievement will facilitate signature/or ratification process of ECOTA with its annexes by the Member States.(b) Trade Facilitation
Transit Trade Agreement (TTA) and Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA)
Prospects and challenges for TTA are: (i) improvement of facilities and infrastructure in border crossings ; (ii) alignment of working hours in border crossings; (iii) simplification of customs transit procedures; (iv) harmonization of technical requirements of vehicles; (v) reducing high and diverse transit charges; (vi) making transit rules and procedures transparent and stable.
There is an urgent need to follow the effective implementation and further expanding the scope of the agreement on simplification of visa procedures for the businesspersons of the Member States to further facilitate the contact and communication among the citizens of the Member States.
It should be stressed that ECO countries, particularly the landlocked Member States, which rely on a few commodity products and trade routes, also face supply-side problem, which manifests itself in a lack of capacity to diversify exports, a vulnerability to price fluctuations and a decline in terms of trade. Therefore, in order to build trade competitiveness, recently finalized ECO Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment among Member States should be implemented towards promoting investments projects in sectoral productivity, particularly trade-related infrastructure, and competitive export industries. In fact, encouraging diversification, and reducing vulnerability to commodity price fluctuations, where support for them in the region has fallen far short of what is necessary. ECO is in need of more permanent body like a trade facilitation working group comprised of representatives from both the government and private sector to raise issues and work towards solutions.

Turkey’s quake assistance to Pakistan
Sobia Nisar

The Muslim Ummah rushed rescuers, doctors, medicines and helicopters soon after an earthquake measuring 7.6 on Richter scale jolted areas in the north of Pakistan on October 8 and killed more than 1 lakh people. The international community made generous donations at the critical time and sent rescue workers, tents and equipment. Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, and all the other Muslim countries came forward and proved themselves as sincere friends of Pakistan in the hour of need. Turkey has proved its credentials as a time tested friend of Pakistan. Millions of aid both in cash and kind proves Turkey as the biggest donor so far. Turkish Prime Minister, Erdogan was the second Muslim head of state, after King Abdullah of Jordan who visited Pakistan. The Turkish Premier invited the leading businessmen and philanthropists to an Iftar dinner soon after the earthquake and asked them to contribute to quake relief fund. Within two hours, an amount of $2 million was collected as a gesture of goodwill between two brotherly countries. A considerable amount of aid has been collected for the victims of the Pakistan earthquake through the campaigns launched by Turkish officials and non governmental organizations (NGO).
The aid collected by the Religious Affairs Directorate reached 25 million new Turkish liras (YTL). Turkish Red Crescent collected YTL 12 millions and the NGO “Kimse Yok mu” YTL 4 million. The campaign launched by the Education Ministry in the schools is expected to attain YTL 20 million. The total amount of aid collected in Turkey exceeded YTL 70 million. Among the NGO’s the largest amount of aid was collected by Kimse Yok mu. Is Bank and its affiliates sent YTL 1.7 million aid to Pakistan that had greatly contributed to the original capital of the bank early in the last century. Among the Muslim countries, the country in which the aid campaigns for Pakistan had the largest public basis, was Turkey. “Kimse yok mu”, which collected the largest amount of aid of YTL 4 million among other Turkish NGO’s, sent tents, blankets and clothing with a 35-ton cargo plane. At the second stage the NGO aimed to dispatch tents enough for 1,000 people. Another charity NGO, Deniz Feneri Dernegi dispatched 40 tons of aid. Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) sent 70 generators, three trucks of blankets, and five trucks of food from Pakistan. Two and a half thousand people took shelter in the 300 tents installed by IHH at Muzaffarabad. Turkish Pharmacists Association sent 2,500 blankets to Pakistan.
The amount of money stored in the bank accounts of Turkish Red Crescent’s Association reached YTL 12 million. More money is accumulating in these bank during relief drives. The Turkish Red Crescent donated more than 180 tons of aid to Pakistan. From the money collected between the Pakistan and Turkey air crossing, Turkish Air Lines (THY) and General Staff provided cargo planes to transport aid materials to Pakistan free of charge. The Turkish Red Crescent will continue to supply aid even after the 60-day emergency period. The Turkish Ministry of Education hopes to collect YTL 20 million for the victims of the Pakistani earthquake. Turkish Is Bank and its affiliates are trying to heal the wounds of the Pakistani people, who had contributed to the initial capital of Is Bank. Is Bank and its affiliations donated a total of YTL 1.750 million to the survivors of the earthquake. The Bank personnel as well as the Ministry of Justice have also launched a further aid campaign to help the Pakistanis. The Turkish representative office of the international Doctors Worldwide Organization formed by Muslim doctors is preparing to build prefabricated hospitals and clinics in the earthquake zone of Pakistan, where the death toll is reported to be over 80,000. “We have launched a campaign among doctors. We aim to establish a prefabricated hospital that will enable us to serve under winter conditions in Muzaffarabad. Besides, we will establish satellite prefabricated clinics in neighboring districts.” Immediately after the earthquake, eight doctors from Turkey arrived in Pakistan and joined doctors from other Muslim countries, forming a group of 26. The Doctors Worldwide team reached the Machiara mountainous region in a helicopter provided by Pakistani army as the first medical team to bring health service to the region. The Turkish leadership along with the world community donated generously to the President’s relief fund in the donor’s conference held in Islamabad in November 2005. It was mainly due to this help that Pakistani government was able to meet her target amount set for the rehabilitation of quake victims. Pakistan will never forget the precious role played by her Muslim brotheren in Turkey in the aftermath of worst tragedy that took place in the history of Pakistan.

Palestinian democracy at a crossroads
Ramzy Baroud

Palestinian political life seems to be unwittingly embracing a distinctive style, contradictory with its own traditional political parameters. The last few weeks have been a clear attestation to this political divergence. Predictably, any serious transformation is not possible without a shakeup in Fatah, the largest political party within the Palestinian Liberation Origination. Late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat established Fatah in 1959 to soon become the cornerstone of Palestinian resistance. Palestinian politics were then absorbed by two arenas: Regional, where the PLO strived to emerge as the sole representative of the Palestinian cause and internal, where various Palestinian factions competed to define their role within the PLO and the resistance movement as a whole.
Thanks to Arafat, Fatah often emerged on top, but not unscathed. The group had some serious fall-outs with Arab states. Contentions also arose amongst PLO factions, most often against the backdrop of corruption charges, lack of transparency and as a result of Arafat’s style of managing the struggle, which was decisive and domineering. Every phase of the Palestinian struggle, whether resulting from its own dialectics or responding to regional and international crises and transformations, influenced Palestinian political mechanisms in some way. Nonetheless, a status quo was forming: Where Fatah overshadowed the PLO, and regardless of the intensity or seriousness of the surrounding circumstances, nothing could have changed that formula. Although the PLO’s departure from Lebanon — subsequent to the Israeli invasion of 1982 — hardly altered Fatah’s superior positioning on top of the Palestinian political pyramid, it certainly altered its priorities. With its leaders headquartered in Tunisia, resistance in its direct, not interpretive meaning was to become localized, not exported.
In 1987, Palestinians in the Occupied Territories began their first intifada, only to be interrupted by the unwarranted and initially secretive signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. While various Palestinian factions took on the responsibilities of the 1987 intifada, Fatah’s young members carried a larger share. They successfully renewed faith in the long exiled party, and resurrected its relevance to the struggle altogether. The Tunisia crowd was incapable of offering any practical contributions to the struggle. It was during these years that the seeds of divergence within Fatah were implanted. It seemed that the party was run by two different leaderships, priorities and in fact objectives. An Occupied Territories-based ‘young guard’ was being nurtured, most of its members serving years in Israeli jails, while, concurrently, the ‘old guard’ were increasingly perceived with suspicion and mistrust.
But the gap grew even wider after Israel unilaterally ‘disengaged’ from Gaza with the hope of consolidating its control over East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Violence in Gaza and charges of corruption everywhere else motioned that a breakdown in the PLO’s largest faction was now imminent. Concurrently, Hamas continued to imprint itself on public opinion as a model of discipline, unity and national responsibility. The group trounced Fatah in recent municipal elections, claiming three of four West Bank cities.
The political plot thickens with the encroaching date of the parliamentary elections on Jan. 25. Barghouti finally made the rift in Fatah an official one when his supporters submitted a separate alternative list of candidates to contest the elections under a different party name: Al-Mustaqbal (the Future). The move has opened the doors for various dramatic possibilities and has ignited fear that a split in Fatah means a possible Hamas victory. The latter possibility prompted the US House of Representatives to pass a resolution threatening a denial of financial aid to the PA if Hamas is allowed participation. Palestinian democracy faces its greatest challenge yet. The Fatah turbulence was expected to express itself in so dramatic a matter as a decisive divorce between the old and young guard. However, it is imperative that such turmoil remains confined to the ballot box. Whatever the outcome, Palestinians must not yield to external pressure or internal strife, thus compromising their democratic experience.