ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday opened a key regional conference that will focus on intra-region connectivity in energy, infrastructure, transport and trade sectors.   
The theme of the 13th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is "Connectivity for Regional Prosperity," which, officials insist, has assumed special significance in the backdrop of monumental project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 
All the ten member states including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, besides a special representative from China, are participating in the summit. 
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected as chairman of ECO at the opening session.
Addressing the summit after assuming its chairmanship, Nawaz Sharif called for intensified collaboration to exploit enormous potential of ECO to turn the region into a citadel of peace, progress and prosperity.
"The Summit's theme, Connectivity for Regional Prosperity, represents our collective vision to build ECO into a community of shared prosperity through greater economic integration and close people-to-people contact," Nawaz Sharif told the day-long opening session of the summit. (Xinhua)