The ECO Bank delegation headed by Mr. Murat Ulus (President) have attended to the 18th Council of Ministers’ Meeting (COM) and 10th ECO Summit held in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, on 7-11 March, 2009. The meeting was attended by the Presidents/Prime Minister/Officials from ECO member states. From international organizations, among others, the President of the Islamic Development Bank, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, the Executive Secretary of the UNECE and the Director General of CICA have participated to the meetings.

The President, Mr. Ulus informed the participants about the activities of the Bank and highlighted the credit schemes being provided by the Bank for the development of SMEs, project and trade-finance facilities, including the future plans of the Bank. He also provided information about analyzes of the Bank on the current financial and economic crisis and its impact on the ECO region's economies. The participants appreciated the recommendations of the Bank to offset the effects of the crisis. The Council of Ministers strongly stressed that a Working Group meeting as decided by the 3rd  Ministerial Meeting on Finance and Economy (Tehran December 2008) be immediately convened to study the possible impacts, opportunities and challenges and formulate short and medium term region-specific recommendations to turn this crisis into an opportunity for the ECO region. The ECO Bank would actively participate to the activities of this working group and give the necessary support.

The Heads of State/Government/Delegation discussed important regional and international issues, including the global economic crisis. They reviewed the performance of the organization, the progress made since the previous Summit (Baku, 2006), the challenges and opportunities lying ahead and gave directions to pace up progress in various sectors. They underscored the need for expansion of cooperation in various fields under the framework of ECO and reaffirmed their support to the goals and objectives of the Organization. With respect to the ECO Bank, the Heads of State/Government welcomed its successful operations and called the other member states for joining the Bank.