Iran Min. Urges ECO To Remove Obstacles To Regional Economic Growth

Tehran, May 24, IRNA – Iran's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Tayyeb-nia urged the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to confront the crises and challenges facing the economic growth and sustainable development in the region. Tayyebnia made the remarks in the 4th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Finance and Economy held on May 22-23 in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan. The meeting, preceded by the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), was organized on the sidelines of the 7th Astana Economic Forum. He focused on the post-crisis situation in a number of world countries especially those situated in the ECO zone and referred to the low productivity and rising unemployment rate as the most urgent challenges to the economic growth and sustainable development. Pointing to the capacities of the ECO Trade and Development Bank, he stressed the role of the bank, as a multi-facet financial institution, in the regional economy by increasing the number of its shareholders. The Iranian minister further referred to the 12-percent annual growth in the ECO share of world trade during 1994-2012 and said the figure stood at 20 percent in 2012. This highlighted the existing capacities for increasing intra-regional trade, he added. The 4th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Finance and Economy provided ministers and high ranking officials of the member states with the opportunity to review the implementation of the decisions of their 3rd meeting and discuss and decide on the possible areas of further cooperation, including strengthening the ECO Trade and Development Bank; establishment of ECO Reinsurance Company; entry into force /implementation of the ˈECO Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investmentˈ; cooperation among the private sectors of ECO member states; cooperation among banking, monetary and financial authorities of the member states; cooperation in the fields of taxation and customs; generating a better investment climate in the region; and enhancing cooperation among Investment Promotion Agencies of the member states./end