The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) meeting was held at Central Bank of Iran’s (CBI) headquarters in Tehran on Tuesday, according to CBI’s public affairs office.
Present were CBI’s foreign exchange deputy Gholamali Kamyab, international affairs deputy Mahdi Goudarzi, and ACU’s secretary general Lida Borhan Azad, as well as other member countries’ top banking officials, IRNA reported.
The ACU was established on December 9, 1974 at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Its member countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran.
Kamyab said the member countries have so far boosted regional trade and that multilateral monetary cooperation has developed.
Iran hopes trade between member nations will develop even further and that the credibility, influence, and reputation of the ACU will enhance, he said. “Consequently, the domestic economy could effectively flourish.”
The organization originally sought to secure regional cooperation 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.
A home-grown electronic financial information system developed by the CBI called SEPAM was also introduced. ACU member countries may all access and join the system.
Some features include options for using national currencies in trades and utilizing practical web-based software for sending messages, which were elaborated by information technology experts during the session.
