Eight commercial banks, unscathed from international sanctions against Iran’s banking system, are ready to cooperate with Qatari banks to ease money transfer between the two countries.
In a meeting with a Qatari commercial delegation on Wednesday, president of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran said the banking group included both state-owned and private banks.
“Money transfer operations will begin whenever the Qatari side is ready to do so,” said Valiollah Afkhamirad.
Afkhamirad, who also serves as deputy minister of industry, mine, and trade called for a quick diagnosis of challenges and barriers on the way of Iran-Qatar commercial relationships.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Afkhamirad asserted that international sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program have not affected exports severely.
In a five-month period since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21-August 22, “the value of our trade with the world surpassed $25 billion dollars.”
Describing Iran’s environment as favorable for investment, he said that Iran’s relations with other countries have since last year’s presidential election. Various delegations from Asian and European countries have visited Iran in the past few months to explore business opportunities.
“Iranian and Qatari officials are willing to expand commercial ties,” he said. However, the current amount of Tehran-Doha trade -- $115 million annually -- is not satisfactory and should increase in the next few years, Afkhamirad asserted.
Afkhamirad said that Iran wants to set up a joint shipping line with Qatar in order to expand its trade ties with the Persian Gulf state.
