Hosted by I. R. of Iran, the Meeting of the ECO-ICT Working Group on Establishment of a Regulatory Framework for ECO Region was held virtually with presence of the delegations from the ECO member countries as well as ECO secretariat.

Based on the report by CRA Public Relations, Dr. Ali Mohammad Montazeri, deputy president of CRA delivered the inaugural message on behalf of Dr. Sadegh Abbasi Shahkouh, president Of CRA.

The message noted that “Being consisted of 10 countries with nearly half a billion population having cultural, religious and social commonalities, Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) can provide many opportunities for member countries due to having access to vast sources of energy supply and transmission as well as several strategic global waterways and unique transit facilities.”

“For decades, information and communication technology (ICT) has been a key driver of economic growth and an essential infrastructure for continuous innovation across all industries.” Said deputy president of CRA for strategy and market development and added: “The impact of regulations, and policies on the telecommunications/ICT sectors has always been a controversial subject among its stakeholders. In this regard, the regulatory framework should play a major role in enabling better operation of the ICT ecosystem and also in protecting the interests of subscribers.”

In the message from the president of CRA, it was emphasized that: “Since ICT has a global dimension in which everything is interconnected, it is difficult to create significant development without cooperation between countries and their concerted efforts. The "2025 ECO Regional Strategy for Information Society Development" (Strategy) is devoted to promote the integration and cooperation among the countries in the ECO region on ICTs and focuses on creating conditions apt to development of a world-class information society and digital economy.”

Dr. Abbasi Shahkouh invited ECO member countries to exchange experiences in digital transformation various fields, including digital transformation, emerging technologies, social network regulation, cross-border frequency coordination, and regulatory framework.

He expressed hope that the exchange of views between the Regulatory Authorities of ECO members on key issues and consequent development of ICT cooperation between ECO member countries will yield positive results in various fields, including the expansion of fixed and mobile broadband, increasing the speed of the Internet, increasing the transit of communications, facilitating Type Approval of telecommunication equipment, providing high-quality affordable and secure services in member countries.

Drafted and proposed by Iran, “the Terms of Reference for the ECO High Level Working Group of ICT Regulatory Authorities” was finalized and approved in this meeting chaired by Mr. Alireza Darvishi, Director General of International Organizations and it was proposed to be submitted to the next ECO Ministerial Meeting for approval.