Chief bankers of Iran, Iraq sign deal on payment mechanism

Young journalists club

News ID: 35119
Iran » Iran
Publish Date: 11:15 - 06 February 2019
TEHRAN, Feb 06- Governors of the central banks of Iran and Iraq on Tuesday signed an agreement on a payment mechanism which is to facilitate the settlement of Baghdad’s debts to Tehran.

Chief bankers of Iran, Iraq sign deal on payment mechanism

TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The deal, signed in Baghdad by Iran’s Abdolnasser Hemmati and Iraq’s Ali Mohsen Al-Allaq, mainly focuses on a payment channel that is to facilitate the settlement of the Arab country’s debts to Tehran over gas and electricity imports, among others.

The two sides inked the agreement following negotiations between members of their delegations in Baghdad’s Al Rasheed Hotel.

Upon arrival in the Iraqi capital Tuesday, Hemmati told IRNAthat his trip was aimed at removing the obstacles that hinder the settlement of Iraq’s debts to Iranian exporters.

In addition to natural gas and electricity, Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran including food, agricultural products, home appliances, and air conditioners.

The value of Iranian imports to Iraq was about $6 billion for the 12 months ending March 2018, about 15 percent of Iraq’s total imports for 2017.

The energy contracts between the two countries also contributed to a volume of trade of $12 billion last year.

Iran is currently Iraq's top trade partner, having sharply increased their trade exchanges in recent months despite US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The US government in November re-imposed unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran and urged all countries in the world to stop doing business with Iran.

However, in a bid to meet its energy needs, Baghdad requested the US to exempt the Arab country from its unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic, and was finally granted a 45-day waiver, which was later extended for another three-month period.

Iran’s Tuesday deal with Iraq on facilitating financial exchanges came a few days after the European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal formally announced the launch of a long-awaited direct payment mechanism meant to safeguard their trade ties with Tehran in the face of the "toughest ever" American sanctions.

Source: Press TV

Tags
iran ، iraq ، payment
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