ECO Bank Permitted to Open Iran Office

President Hassan Rouhani’s Cabinet has allowed the Central Bank of Iran to engage in negotiations and sign the “agreement of the host country” required for the ECO Trade and Development Bank to open a representative office in Iran. The Cabinet made the ruling about the bank, established under the auspices of the Economic Cooperation Organization, in its Sunday session, IBENA reported. ETDB is a regional multilateral development bank that aims to promote socioeconomic development and intra-regional trade among ECO member states, namely Pakistan and Turkey. The lender, which was established in 2005 with headquarters located in Istanbul, started operations in 2008.