38th meeting of Board of Directors of Asian Clearing Union

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka will host the 38th meeting of the Board of Directors of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) on June 16 in Colombo. The meeting will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

The main purpose of the meeting will be to review the operations of the ACU and to adopt resolutions that are deemed necessary for the continued successful operation of the ACU.

The principal advantage of the ACU is that it allows members two months credit in settling their payments relating to the trade transactions among member countries which are routed through the Central Banks/Monetary Authorities. The ACU headquarters is based in Tehran, Iran.

The key objectives of the ACU are to: (a) provide the facility to settle payments for current international transactions on a multilateral basis among member countries; (b) promote monetary cooperation among participants; and (c) develop close relations among the banking systems in the member countries and thereby to promote trade and economic activities among member countries. The ACU which was set up in 1974, has a membership of eight Central Banks/Monetary Authorities consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The Board of Directors of the ACU comprises the Governors of Central Banks/Heads of Monetary Authorities of the eight member countries.

Accordingly, the following Governors from the respective countries are expected to attend the Colombo meeting: Dr Atiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank, Daw Tenzin, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, Dr. D. Subbarao, Reserve Bank of India, Dr. M. Bahmani, Central Bank of Islamic Republic of Iran, Than Nyein, Central Bank of Myanmar and Deependra B Kshetry, Nepal Rastra Bank. In addition, M. Kamran Shehzad, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan will represent the Governor at the meeting. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka will chair the meeting.