Tehran, Iran, June 17
Trend:
The Governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan Province revealed details of the visit of Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to the province and the latest state of Jolfa-Aslan Duz Railway project.
“During the visit, a meeting was held in three sessions: with the Assembly of MPs of the Province, the Council for the Private Sector and Economist, and the Economic Working Group of the Governorate,” Mohammad Pour Mohammadi told Trend referring to the Hemmati's visit to East Azerbaijan.
In his words, the main objective of the CBI's governor trip was to address the challenges facing the provincial industry and producers. “The problems experienced by producers and traders with liquidity and work with banks were discussed alongside import and exchange issues,” he added. “Serious decisions were made to increase bank facilities and promote imports versus exports and corresponding instructions were given.”
He said that some issues were to be considered in Tehran, at the Council of Ministers. The governor noted that a working group of economists was set up to follow up on issues through the Deputy Governor of CBI.
Referring to the problems of traders and manufacturers, he said that everyone is struggling with the issue of currency fluctuations. “The exchange rate fluctuation has made their estimates unrealistic, and many have not been able to settle their debt to the banks,” he added.
He reported that traders and manufacturers who are facing debts settlement problem raised their issue with the Head of the Central Bank. “Mr. Hemmati ordered the banks to work more actively with the producers, especially those who have been credit-worthy so far,” he said.
Speaking about the 'import vs export' plan he explained that according to the new plan, 100 percent of exports value could be spend for import. In his words, currently, up to 50 percent of export value is spent on import.
Referring to the recent agreement between Iran and Turkey to launch the Ankara-Tehran train, he said this train will pass through Tabriz city in Azerbaijan Province. "According to the agreement that the Islamic Republic's railways signed with Turkey, the train will transport passengers and cargo to Istanbul and Ankara via Tabriz,” said Pour Mohammadi.
He added that a new agreement between Aras Free Zone and an investor company has been concluded for construction of the Jolfa – Aslan Duz railway and the work will start soon.
"The study on Jolfa – Aslan Duz railway route is completed, and an investor company is also identified," he noted.
Responding to the question whether it is Iranian investor, he said that the investor is a foreign company, but a trilateral memorandum is to be signed and the Iranian contractor will be working with the investor. “The investor of Jolfa – Aslan Duz railway is a company from the private sector of Azerbaijan,” he added.