TEHRAN - Iran’s trade with the members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) exceeded $10.447 billion in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 22) to register a 44 percent increase year on year, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.

According to Ruhollah Latifi, the volume of trade with the mentioned countries also increased by 34 percent in comparison to the previous year’s same eight months, IRNA reported.

As reported, during the mentioned period Iran traded over 21,778,387 tons of commodities worth $10,447,084,435 with ECO member countries including Turkey, Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Iran exported 18.631 million tons of commodities worth over $6,823,246 billion to the said nations in the mentioned period.

He said major export destinations of the Iranian goods in the said union were Turkey with about $3.767 billion of imports, Afghanistan with $1.27 billion, Pakistan with $764.389 million, and Azerbaijan with $335.843 million.

As reported, the Islamic Republic’s export to ECO members increased by 46 percent and 54 percent compared to the figures for the previous year in terms of weight and value, respectively.

Meanwhile, the country imported 3,147,332 tons of goods valued at over $3.623 billion from the ECO member countries, with Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan being the top sources of imported goods.

The value of Iranian imports from the ECO union also increased by 28 percent compared to the previous year’s same time span, the official said.

According to Latifi, more than 23.723 million tons of goods worth $11.71 billion were traded between Iran and the ECO member countries during the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), of which the share of exports was 18.419 million tons of goods worth $6.890 billion and the share of imports from these countries was 5.312 million tons worth $4.819 billion.

The value of Iran’s non-oil trade during the first eight months of the current year stood at about $33 billion, Latifi had previously announced.

The Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO is an Asian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.

EF/MA