Challenges and Opportunities of ECO Regional Integration: A Functionalist Appraoch

Regional integration is a process that gradually takes shape and shows how and why states hands off full sovereignty and at the same time achieve new ways to resolve disputes among themselves. In this Framework, since ECO has not been able to gain a notable success, the paper seeks to explain this situation.
It can be claimed that Absence of geographical and spatial functions shaping integration is the most important factor in the lack of regional integration in ECO.
Using the descriptive-analytical method and functionalist theory this study is going to examine the challenges and opportunities of integration among ECO members. The results indicate the negative impact of the geographical challenges and their adverse role in political, economic and cultural processes shaping cooperation and integration in Member States and disregard for the geographical opportunities in the integration process.