BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25
Trend:
The Iranian President’s Chief of Staff that the government and Expediency Council have held a long and good meeting over the Palermo and CFT bills mandated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
"Now that the international situation has changed, the other countries hope for after sanctions era to continue and develop their cooperation with Iran," Mahmoud Vaezi said, Trend reports citing Mehr News Agency.
"Two FATF-related bills, which have to be reviewed by Expediency Council, are very important. After the lifting of sanctions, we should not have a self-sanction to impede our banking relationship.,” he said.
Now that the international situation has changed and there are some countries who are hoping to get into relations and expand ties with Iran, after the lifting of sanctions, he noted.
"The FATF has become a common institution in the world, meaning that almost all but two or three countries have joined the FATF conventions," he said.
Referring to Tuesday's meeting between the government and the Expediency Council he says that, and economic Minister Farhad Dejpsand, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, MFA Minister Zarif, CBI governor Mr. Hemmati, and the presidential aide for legal affairs Ms. Junidi have attended the meeting.
"We consider the issue (of joining to the FATF-related Conventions) so important for the future of foreign and banking relations,” he said.
On October 7, 2018, the Majlis (parliament) voted in favor of the CFT. However, the oversight Guardian Council rejected the bill by finding 22 faults with it.
However, the Expediency Council set aside studies to approve the Palermo bill back in October 2019 for it believed Palermo and CFT would help the United States to identify the ways Iran circumvents the sanctions.
The Financial Action Task Force announced in June 2019 that Iran had until October to complete reforms that would bring it into line with global norms or face consequences.
In December 2020, in a response to the President's request, the Leader of the Revolution agreed with an extension of the time for reviewing the FATF bills.