Uzbekistan hosts summit of regional economic alliance

MOSCOW (AP) — An economic grouping that includes several ex-Soviet nations along with Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey has held a summit in Uzbekistan, and leaders of member countries have vowed to further expand trade and economic ties. Members of the Economic Cooperation Organization, who met on Thursday in Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent, discussed plans for speeding regional economic integration. They also noted the need for increasing the ECO’s global profile through fostering regional and global partnerships. The summit’s participants also urged the international community to come up with a “more serious and fruitful response” to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war. and called for increased humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan.