TEHRAN -- Cooperatives Minister Ali Soufi said on Saturday that that the Cooperatives Ministry plans to deliver 45,000 housing units to applicants by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2003).

Soufi told a press conference that these houses will be built based on the consumption patterns set by the Housing and Urban Development Ministry's which will be under 120 meters and with a price of 800, 000 rials per meter.

A specified amount o the housing credits have been put at the disposal of the Housing and Urban Development Ministry under Article 15 which is paid by the banks, the minister said.

The minister also rejected this claim that the cooperatives sector only provides 34 of the employment in the country . He said according to the current statistics about 10 percent of the employment rate in the country is run by cooperatives. The minister put the number of active cooperatives in the country at about 44,000.

He said the ministry has always been on the verge of disintegration or merger since its launch. He also noted that most of the country's officials don't attach great importance to this ministry.

Creating jobs through cooperatives unions, enhancing competition of small and medium-size businesses by the private sector and improving the purchasing power of the cooperatives staff are among the top priorities set by the ministry in the current Iranian year, the minister declared.

Soufi said there are about 800,000 cooperatives throughout the world which have 725 million people members in 93 countries.

Unfortunately, there is not enough support for the cooperatives as rendered to public and privates sectors in the country, the minister continued.

He said the banks will pay about 9,000-billion-rials interest-free loans to the applicants in the current year.