Iran to be world’s 12th economy in 2015

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says by continuing the drive towards improving its global economic standing, Iran will become the world’s 12th economy in the space of five years.

“Iran is currently the world’s 17th largest economy,” Ahmadinejad said in a news conference on the sidelines of the 11th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Thursday.

“The country will boost its status of the economy in the next five years to present itself as the 12th largest and strongest economy in the world,” IRNA quoted the Iranian president as saying.

He added that Tehran currently enjoys good and close relations with countries in the Middle East region as well as the world.

“Iran now plays an active role in designing new economic models that center on a foundation of justice and respect for all nations,” Ahmadinejad underscored.

He went on to say that the US and its allies led the world nations for almost 100 years but their recent decline shows that it is now time for them to leave the global stage.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey with the aim of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among member states.

The organization was expanded in 1992 to include seven new members, namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.