Iran urges ECO to end ‘unreal’ divisions

Iran wants the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states to bridge their “illusory” divisions, urging them to use their national currencies in trade transactions.

“The ECO is remembered as the heart of the world,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Tuesday, expressing hope that through “collective cooperation and a win-win approach towards all parties,” the organization would have a “brilliant” future, IRNA reported.

Speaking at the 21st meeting of the regional planning council in Tehran, Salehi, however, criticized the group’s failure to realize its objectives due to “political illusions.”

“Many of the differences that exist among ECO member states are not real and are only political illusions that give rise to differences and [then] we engage in bickering with one another,” the Iranian official stated.

“Among these differences and illusions are the worries created as Islamophobia and Iranophobia in the Persian Gulf and the world,” he explained.

“These are not real and have been created based on a series of illusions,” he stressed.

Salehi called on ECO member states to replace the euro and dollar with national currencies as an “immunizing measure” against destructive enemy influences.

Using foreign currencies, Salehi argued, allows others to create obstacles in the way of the economic cooperation body and to hinder the growth of member states.

Ministers and deputies of the 10-nation bloc are currently attending the three-day event which opened on Tuesday, with participants scheduled to discuss the organization’s achievements over the last year and its timetable for the next year.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, and provides a platform to promote economic, technical and cultural cooperation among member states.

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

ECO members intend to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union.