The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) entered a new stage of development during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's chairmanship, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said at the ECO summit.
Ahmedinejad proposed further developing the ECO at the summit shown live on the Iranian IRINN television channel.
"The unfair international economic system must be replaced with a system that protects the rights of the people," the Iranian president said during the summit in Tehran.
On March 11, the Iranian president initiated using a single currency, forming an ECO bank, canceling export and import taxes and duties and increasing goods turnover among ECO countries.
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan formed the ECO in 1985.
The ECO is an intergovernmental organization aiming to strengthen economic, technical and cultural cooperation among member-countries.
Azerbaijan joined the ECO in 1992. Central Asian countries joined the organization the same year.
The ECO unites Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The presidents of Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Tajikistan and Iraq and vice president of Syria are attending the summit.