Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran and Austria agreed to resume banking cooperation, Hossein Yaqoubi Miab, the director for the international affairs of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said.
Iran's Central bank will open bank account in the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) within the next two weeks, Yaqoubi Miab said, IRIB news agency reported April 3.
The Austrian bank also has expressed readiness to open bank accounts for other Iranian commercial banks, he added.
The Iranian official further said that the Austrian side will support the activities of Iranian banks and establishing correspondent banking relationships between the banks of the two countries.
The central bank of Austria also agreed to permit the CBI to open an account in the bank which is an important step, Yaqoubi Miab said, adding Iran will be able to receive the money of its oil and condensate export via the account to use it in facilitating the mutual trade.
Austria also will participate in training the trainees of Iran's banking system, he said.
Miab further said that Tehran and Vienna reached an agreement which based on that Austria will resume providing guarantees for Austrian exports to Iran.
Iran and Austria signed a basic agreement this week to promote mutual cooperation with the country in multiple industrial fields.
The agreement that has been reportedly signed on March 31 between the chambers of commerce of the two countries could have a collected value of above $2 billion.
It comprises eight documents that envisage broader cooperation in several areas including the automobile sector, the steel industry, the pharmaceutical field and the engineering services.
The current level of trade between Iran and Austria stands at around $300 million. Officials from both countries announced last year that a serious plan has been devised to boost mutual trade to as high as $1 billion before 2020.