The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) region consists of 10 member states: Islamic State of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan Republic, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan.

The ECO region is geographically vast and well endowed with potential economic resources in different fields and sectors, such as agriculture and arable land, energy and mining, human resources, and a vast strategic trading region. The ECO region as a whole posted a robust annual average GDP growth rate of more than 6% since 2002. The overall GDP of the region reached some US$ 1.47 trillion by the end of 2008. The sustained GDP growth rates over the recent years has helped increase income per capita as it increased by 54% from US$ 4,103 in 2002 to US$ 6,337 in 2008.

The regional countries continued to implement a range of reforms to create favorable conditions for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which includes improvements in investment legislation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and liberalization of investment flows. With more than 400 million inhabitants, ECO region houses around 6% of the world population, whereas the total trade share of the region in the world trade is about 2%. The intra-export ratio of the region reached around 6% in 2008. The regional economies are continuously making efforts to promote intra-regional trade and implementing measures to improve regulatory framework in the region.