TEHRAN - The value of trade between Iran and the eight other members of the Asian Clearance Union (ACU) amounted to some $1 billion in the first seven months of 2012, showing 75 percent fall compared to the same period last year.

 

The total trade among the ACU member states during the 7-month period has decreased by 37.1 percent compared to the year before, the Fars news agency quoted a recent ACU report as saying.

The ACU, with headquarters in Tehran, Iran, was established on December 9, 1974 at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). 

The primary objective of ACU, at the time of its establishment, was to secure regional co-operation 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. 

The members of the ACU are the central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.