member Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) are holding a summit on economic cooperation in Istanbul Friday, just a month ahead of nuclear talks with world powers in the Turkish city. As Turkish President Abdullah Gul welcomed his guests at a seafront Ottoman palace, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived sporting a broad smile, gave Gul a warm hug and waved to the cameras. The ECO, which promotes regional trade and economic development, also includes Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which sent lower-level officials. In his opening speech, Gul lamented that the group was faltering in efforts to expand commercial links, stressing intra-regional trade had increased only from six to seven percent since 2005, undermining the 2015 target of 20 percent. "We have to admit that this is a failure," he said, urging member states to speed up efforts to adopt an ECO accord calling for progressive removal of trade barriers. "It should be understood that the way to economic stability and sustainable development for our countries goes through economic and commercial cooperation in the region," he said. Energy security, transport and poverty reduction were expected to be other major topics in the talks. The 10 member states cover an area of about eight billion square kilometers (three billion square miles), rich with natural resources, and represent some 400 million people. On the sidelines of the summit, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan issued a joint statement pledging to enhance political consultations and hold regular trilateral meetings. "Turkey is providing a model for these countries in the region, many of which are going nowhere in terms of social peace and economic prosperity," said Semih Idiz, a Turkish foreign analyst for the newspaper Milliyet. "Turkey provides an alternative of political stability, economic growth and regional peace." In the past decade, Turkey has transformed itself from a financial basket case on the periphery of Europe into one of the world's best-performing economies which now stakes a claim to a regional leadership role. The summit will be held at an Ottoman palace on the European shore of the Bosphorus, overlooking the Asian side. In a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers Friday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey's "Eurasian vision" was one of close regional ties and cooperation. "Our objective is to strengthen the links between Europe and Asia through energy and transportation corridors and by creating new dynamics for cooperation," he said. Henri Barkey, a Turkey expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said Turkey saw itself as a global player and was using ECO summits to demonstrate its influence. "Most of these countries in ECO are mired in domestic problems and Turkey's interest are far more global. Turkey does not need ECO, but Turkey does not loose an opportunity to show it's central to world politics," Barkey said. US and Western allies have praised Turkey's role in exporting democracy and economic prosperity in the region.
