Iran CBI chief in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials

Baghdad, April 23, IRNA – Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdol-Nasser Hemmati in Baghdad held meeting with senior Iraqi officials. Hemmati is on a visit to Baghdad to finalize monetary and banking agreements. The agreement has been drafted during President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Iraq and Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi's recent visit to Iran. He arrived in Iraq on Sunday and held talks with Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi Finance Minister Fuad Hussein and his Iraqi counterpart. Earlier on March 11-13, Hemmati visited Iraq and held meeting with Iraqi economic officials and with President of Iraq Barham Salih and the Prime Minister as well. In his meeting with Iraq counterpart, Hemmati said both sides had reached agreement on banking activities and banking relations. He added that good agreements were signed by both sides in line with the strategy to settle Iraqi Government's arears, activities of private sector, exporters and financial transactions. He went on to say that based on the monetary and banking agreement, Iran and Iraq will do business in the domain of euro and dinar meaning that Iranian Central Bank will have dinar and euro-based account in Iraq. The agreement will help improve relations between branches of Iranian banks in Iraq and the Iraqi banks, Hemmati noted. It would be possible for Iraqi banks to open branches in Iran, he reiterated. Accordingly, obstacles for Iraq to pay its debts for oil and gas exports have been lifted. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish