Baku, Azerbaijan Feb. 10
By Farhad Daneshvar, Dalga Khatinoglu – Trend:
Iran's Central Bank Chief Valiollah Seif is expected to discuss an earlier reached agreement between Tehran and Baku on opening settlement accounts with his Azerbaijani colleagues over the coming week in Baku, an Iranian diplomat said.
Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Javad Jahangirzadeh, in an interview with Trend said that talks on settlement accounts have not produced any outcome yet, expressing hope that the upcoming visit would contribute to the talks.
Valiollah Seif is slated to arrive in Baku on Feb. 12 to discuss financial cooperation between the two countries.
Last August, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Baku where the sides agreed to expand financial cooperation and signed several documents.
During the visit, Valiollah Seif, who accompanied the president, told Trend that the central banks of the two countries have agreed to open settlement accounts.
In the meantime, the sides may also discuss using national currencies in bilateral trade. An announcement by the Central Bank of Iran on the country’s plan to stop using the US dollar in its official statements has fueled speculations on the possibility of employing national currencies of Iran and Azerbaijan in bilateral trade between the two countries.
The talks in this regard reportedly may still be held between the sides in the near future.