The Iran Mercantile Exchange will host the second international conference of Interexchange Electronic Union (IEU) consisting of commodity exchanges of the Eastern Europe as well as the CIS nations. The event will be held on November 15 -16 in Tehran, IME's public relations and international affairs office reported.
After a recent unprecedented visit to the IME by the IEU representatives, who were accompanied by the Iranian ambassador to Belarus and members of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, Iran was appointed to be the host of the second edition of IEU conference, the report quoted Hossein Panahian, director of IME, as saying.
Furthermore, recent negotiations between the IME and BUCE have led to the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in a bid to expand the international scope of activities at the IME, Panahian said.
"The IME is mulling over joining the IEU, and we continue the negotiations to do so," Panahian said, adding that the main aspects of the tasks within the negotiations are focused on settlement and clearing, required technical sections, and the information technology.
He also highlighted that once the IME is accepted as a formal member of the IEU Iran's capital market will be linked to other global capital markets.
Interexchange Electronic Union (IEU) is the union of legal entities of exchange structures, which acts in a virtual electronic field and serves as a non-commercial organization IEU also acts in the interexchange commodity market of the interested countries with the exchange voluntary membership and is created without restriction of activity term.
IEU is an international organization which unites seven commodity exchanges of five countries: Armenia (YERCOMEX), Belarus (BUCE), Kazakhstan (ICEX "Kazakhstan”, CEX "Kaspiy”), Kyrgyzstan (KUCEX), Ukraine (UCEX, "Agrarian Commodity Exchange” Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine), and two commodity distribution systems from Armenia (Clearing House UCDLE) and Belarus.
"Russia's two mercantile exchanges will also send some representatives to the upcoming meeting in Tehran," Panahian stated.
Iran-IEU Partnership
Panahian indicated that promotion and development of free trade across the territories of the IEU nations is a top priority for this union. He also mentioned that implementing the economic projects on raw materials and finished commodities' trade is among the core policies of the union.
The core mission of the IEU is to elevate the level of trades in the beneficiary countries through introduction of the required infrastructures and techniques to run and expand electronic trades within the mercantile exchange of the IEU members, Panahian said.
"Our major target is to directly associate the traders and market managers in order to boost trades, helping to facilitate commodities exchange and reinvigorating the national economy," Panahian reiterated. He added that creating regional and international networks of traders for futures contracts and other derivatives on agricultural products, raw materials, foodstuffs, consulting services, and legal protection of members are among the major tasks of the union.
The IEU has already a wide range of commodities on its daily trades. Following the market demands in the IEU members, being a member in IEU could be considered a significant platform for local manufacturers and traders to boost their trades, and eventually bolstering the capital market.
As a safe channel for Iranian traders and suppliers, IEU enjoys a vast potential for trading of various commodities including agricultural products, electronic equipment, petroleum products, chemicals, and precious metals.
Facilitating the import and export between the member nations through their mercantile exchanges is another advantage granted through IEU membership.
A new mercantile exchange in the northern Iranian port of Bandar Anzali is the main channel of trading between local companies and CIS traders. This mercantile exchange has a great potential to be the main business channel between Iran and the IEU members.
Besides, being an IEU member can help Iran recover its economy, paving the way for local manufacturers and suppliers for entering markets of the IEU members. As a guarantee, the Belarusian Mercantile Exchange offers a trading platform for a wide range of commodities, including metals, scrap, coal, coke, electronic equipment, paper, industrial equipment, leather, cooking oil, butter, meat, and powdered milk.
