The Economic Co-operation Organisation was established in 1985 as a trilateral organisation by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. It is intended to promote multi-dimensional regional co-operation with a view to creating the conditions for sustained socio-economic development and to raise the standard of living and quality of life in the member states through the mobilisation of the economic and social potential of the region. Its aims and objectives and its modes of operation are largely identical to those of its forerunner, the Regional Co-operation for Development which was set up in 1964 but dissolved in 1979