Iran’s trade with ACU falls

TEHRAN,July 10(MNA) - The value of trade between Iran and the eight other members of the Asian Clearance Union (ACU) stood at $961 million in the first half of 2012, showing a 75 percent fall compared with the same period last year. The total trade among the ACU member states amounted to $10 billion, compared to $17 billion in the first half of 2011, the Fars News Agency quoted a recent ACU report as saying. The ACU, with headquarters in Tehran, Iran, was established in 1974 at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The primary objective of ACU is to secure regional co-operation as regards the settlement of monetary transactions among the members of the Union and to provide a system for clearing payments among the member countries on a multilateral basis. The members of the ACU are the central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.