TEHRAN —Trade turnover among ECO members totals $56 billion and is expected to increase in the future, Irna news agency reported, quoting Secretary-General of the Economic Cooperation Organization Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mohammad Reza Karbasi.

He expressed the hope that that by implementing the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement (ECOTA), discount in trade tariffs, and resolving the non-tariff barriers, the intra-group trade would be increased much more. 

Karbasi said the remarks during the visit to Tajikistan on Saturday. While, so far Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan have signed the ECOTA, Karbasi went on to say that Tajikistan promised to sign the bill in the near future. 

The secretary general of the ECO said on September that the organization plans to set up a common trade market among its member states.

“Under the agreement reached between ECO members, the common trade market should be established by 2015,” Muhammad Yahya Maroofi told Irna.

Maroofi further said that the establishment of the market requires the approval of the parliaments of at least half of the member countries.

So far, the parliaments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan have ratified the law, he said, adding Tajikistan's parliament is now examining the issue.

Once the law ratified in Tajikistan's parliament, the common trade market will be operational, he went on to say.

The ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which provides a platform to promote economic, technical and cultural cooperation among member states.

The organization was expanded in 1992 to include seven new members, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

ECO's secretariat and cultural department are located in Tehran while its economic bureau is in Turkey and its scientific bureau is situated in Pakistan.