On 16 March 2026, Acting Secretary-General, Ms. Atsuko Hirose, welcomed to the Energy Charter Secretariat the Executive Director of the Clean Energy Center of the Economic Cooperation Organization (CECECO), Ms. Aysel Yagubova. CECECO was established in 2024 as a joint initiative of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and is headquartered in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan.  ECO is an observer to the Energy Charter Conference since 2016, and five out of the six Member States of the CECECO Charter are also the Contracting Parties to the Energy Charter Treaty.
    

Ms. Yagubova and Ms. Hirose discussed possible areas of cooperation between CECECO and the Secretariat going forward, aligned with the amendments to the Energy Charter Treaty approved by the Energy Charter Conference in December 2024, with a view to assisting renewable energy investments in the ECO region, including knowledge-sharing activities related to clean energy regulations and potential participation of CECECO members in the flagship publication of the Secretariat, the Energy Investment Risk Assessment (EIRA).