The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank is a Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) established on August 3, 2005 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, which are the founding members of the ECO. The Headquarters Agreement of the Bank was ratified by the Republic of Turkey in July 2007 completing the formalities to establish the Bank.

Being an MDB, the Bank is not a profit maximizing organization but would rather focus on financing development programmes and projects at reasonable costs with a favourable repayment conditions as pursued by other MDBs such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, etc.

Overall, the Bank would take lending decisions solely on the merits of projects, programmes, or other transactions proposed and tailor borrowing in line with the best opportunities available in the capital markets. It would specifically consider the relevancy and impact of its operations to the development objectives of the member countries. The membership to the Bank is expected to increase soon by joining of other ECO member states as well as their Banks and financial institutions. Recently, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Kyrgyz Republic became members of the ECO Trade and Development Bank.

The Bank would contribute towards the medium and long-term financing needs of the region and thereby help to promote sustainable development and regional integration in both the public and private sectors. It would also aim to become an important institutional vehicle for mobilizing funds in international capital markets for the region’s development needs.