Iran on the Path of Smart Development and Creating Safety for Mining and Geological Activities in the ECO Zone.

The 36th session of the ECO Regional Planning Council ( RPC) is being held by ECO secretariat in Tehran and the Geological Survey of Iran (GSI) has attended the meeting as the focal point in two specialized committees of this organization, i.e., Mining and Environment Committee (Mining Area) as well as the Human Resources and Sustainable Development Committee (Disaster Risk Reduction Area) accompanied by the representatives of the member states online.

The 36^th session of the ECO Regional Planning Council (RPC) is being held by ECO secretariat in Tehran and the Geological Survey of Iran (GSI) has attended the meeting as the focal point in two specialized committees of this organization, i.e., Mining and Environment Committee (Mining Area) as well as the Human Resources and Sustainable Development Committee (Disaster Risk Reduction Area) accompanied by the representatives of the member states online.

Throughout this meeting, with the agreement of the members, it was decided that both the necessary budget for the implementation of the project to prepare the "ECO Member States Environmental Quality Index Map" (ECO-EQI) would be allocated by the ECO Secretariat - this decision will be finally approved in the ECO Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) meeting for implementation- and the ECO Secretariat would also make the necessary coordination for the implementation of the "Landslide Hazard Zoning of ECO Member States" (LHZ) project approved in the  previous meetings by the Geological  Survey of Iran.

The Geological Survey of Iran also declared its readiness to advance two other strategic projects. Firstly," Service Catalog and Metadata System" project, which was formerly introduced at the 8^th Minerals Expert Group Meeting hosted by the  GSI in Isfahan, and secondly, "Smartization of Geology and Exploration of ECO Member States Minerals" project, which was proposed at the 9^th Minerals Expert Group Meeting hosted by Pakistan.

In another part of the meeting, Iran announced its readiness to establish a "Center for Innovative Achievements in the Field of Geohazards and a Geological Observatory in ECO Member States" and also to host in person the "5^th Meeting of Experts of ECO Member Countries in the Field of Disaster Risk Reduction", scheduled to be held in Iran in May 2026 but canceled due to the war conditions in the country.

In this line, hosting of the "10^th Minerals Expert Group Meeting of ECO Member States" in 2026 or this coming year was announced by Iran. This event was attended by Dr. Reza Shahbazi, Focal Point for "Disaster Risk Reduction in the Human Resources and Sustainable Development Committee", Engineer Omid Ardebili, Focal Point for Mining in the "Energy, Mining and Environment" Committee, along with Hanieh Bakhshaee, Director of International Affairs  Department of the Geological Survey of Iran.