TEHRAN – Iranian Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini has underscored the importance of enhancing economic relations between the members of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, especially during the global financial crisis.

Hosseini made the comments in a meeting with Sri Lankan Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Sarath Amunugama on the sidelines of the annual six-day meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in Washington, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The Special Unit for South-South Cooperation was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. Hosted in UNDP, its primary mandate is to promote, coordinate and support South-South and triangular cooperation on a Global and United Nations system-wide basis.
“On our behalf, we will lay the grounds towards facilitating the trade between the two sides’ private sectors,” Hosseini said hoping that the Sri Lankan government would also contribute to this purpose by creating the required bedrock.
“Iran is on the way to becoming one of Sri Lanka’s biggest trade partners,” Amunugama said, pointing to Iran’s significant achievements in the energy sector.
The Iranian delegation is headed by Hosseini and also includes Majlis Economic Committee Chairman Mohammadreza Tabesh, and MP Qolamreza Mesbahi Moqaddam, who is also on the Economic Committee.
The boards of governors of the IMF and WB group normally meet once a year in the autumn for a plenary session to discuss the work of their respective institutions