BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 13. The 14th Ministerial Meeting on Transport of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) will be held on October 15, 2026, in Astana, ECO said.
"Hosted by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the margins of the Astana New Silk Way Forum, the Ministerial Meeting will gather ministers and high-level transport officials from the ECO Member States to discuss ways and means to enhance intra–regional connectivity," ECO said.
The organization noted that experts from the member states have so far held four online preparatory meetings to discuss the two outcome documents of the ministerial meeting: the ECO 10-year Transport Strategy and the Astana Declaration.
Senior officials from the member states will hold the final preparatory meeting in Astana on October 14 to finalize the outcome documents. They will also review developments within the ECO since the previous ministerial meeting, held in Tehran in June 2025, which focused, among other issues, on digitalization and sustainability.
As part of the meeting, a dialogue with representatives of the ECO private sector will be held on October 15 to discuss public-private partnerships in the digitalization and financing of the ECO transport sector. The outcome of the private sector meeting will be incorporated into the ECO Ministerial Declaration.
"Connectivity has always been a major priority area for the ECO and its Member States. The ECO Region is composed of land-locked and transit countries. Three ECO transit countries have significant potential and capacities to unlock the potential of the 7 land-locked Member States through connecting them to the global markets. The ECO Region’s transit network is critical for neighbouring countries and regions, too. It has significant and unparalleled capacity to facilitate international trade by connecting China to Europe, and Russia and North Europe to the Persian Gulf, the Oman Gulf and Indian Ocean", ECO said.
