TEHRAN, Mar. 7 (MNA) -- The presidents of six member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization plus the heads of state of Iraq and Qatar will be holding a meeting in Tehran on March 10 to explore ways to expand their relations.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will chair the meeting, which will be attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, and special guests Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said that the 18th ECO ministerial council meeting will be held on March 9 to discuss multilateral relations in the fields of transportation, trade, and energy.

Deputy foreign ministers of ECO countries are currently holding talks at the Institute for Policy Studies of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qashqavi added.

He stated that a number of items would be discussed at the March 10 meeting, such as the ECO road map, the status of previously signed agreements, and the proposals to start an Almaty-Tashkent-Tehran-Istanbul railway route and Almaty-Bandar Abbas passenger and cargo flights.

 “ECO accounts for 2.8 percent of global trade,” but trade between ECO states currently amounts to only a fraction of their combined gross domestic product, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzekistan are the members of ECO