Iraq settles part of Iran’s claim for exports: CBI

Tehran, March 12, IRNA – Central Bank of Iran (CBI) reported that Iraq on Monday (March 11) settled first part of Iran’s claim for exports to the neighboring country. The CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati and his Iraqi counterpart Ali al-Allaq held talks in Baghdad Monday on ways to follow up implementation of a mutual agreement reached by the two sides on February 5. Hemmati along with other top Iranian officials is accompanying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Iraq that started on March 11 for three days. The two sides in the meeting also reviewed the ways to facilitate banking cooperation, launch Iranian bank branches in Iraq and use Dinar instead of Dollar in trade exchanges. According to CBI, gas and electricity comprise for four out of 12 billion dollars of Iran’s exports to Iraq. Hemmati, at the end of his February visit to Iraq, told reporters that the two sides have held good talks on removing the obstacles to trade exchange. He also informed the reporters of the two sides’ determination to implement mutual agreements on economic cooperation. In a related development, Iran’s Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi in an article published on March 10 said the Iraqi officials have repeatedly reiterated that they would not go with the US at its unilateral sanctions against Iran, the sanctions which re-imposed on Tehran in Nov 2018 after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the Iran Deal in May in the same year. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish