The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the Turkey-based ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) have signed a memorandum on strengthening bilateral ties, the CBI said on October 10.
ETDB is a Eurasian multilateral development bank established on behalf of an ECO (Economic Cooperation Organisation) to promote socio-economic development and trade in developing countries. It was created in 2005 by member states and is headquartered in Sisli, Turkey with representative offices in several other countries.
The agreement was signed at the CBI’s headquarters in Tehran by central bank governor Valliollah Seif and ETDB's Turkish vice president Burhanettin Aktas, who flew in to reopen the bank's Iran branch this week.
The memorandum was drawn up following a clearance issued by the Iranian cabinet in September that permitted the development bank to resume operations in the Islamic Republic. It was forced to close its doors when crippling nuclear sanctions were applied to Iran.
Neither side has announced how much investment ETDB intends to invest in the Iranian economy.
The ECO is a Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organisation originally founded in 1985 in Tehran.
Its subsequent bank was set up to facilitate trade between the member states. Besides Iran and Turkey, the other ETDB members are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Officials from Iran's Judiciary announced the country's largest shopping centre, Iran Mall, is worth IRR3.5 trillion ($5.8bn), ISNA reported on April 8. Iran Mall is globally ... more
Bank Melli Iran (BMI) has been given the go-ahead to resume its operations in Iraq by the Central Bank of Iraq, as reported by IBENA on February 9. This decision comes after a temporary suspension of ... more
Iran and Uzbekistan plan to sign a comprehensive transport cooperation document in the near future, according to Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash, IRIB News reported on ... more