Iran and Turkey are planning to establish a joint bank, said Mahmoud Vaezi, minister of communications and information technology, who also is President Hassan Rouhani’s special envoy for Turkey.
“We agreed on the plan during talks with the Central Bank of Turkey and Ziirat Bank. Turkey too can establish a bank in Iran,” he said in an interview with Haber Turk daily on Monday, ILNA reported.
Most of the issues in banking relations of the two countries were resolved during the recent talks, Vaezi was quoted as saying.
Iran Post Bank has started cooperation with Halkbank which enables the bank to issue letters of credit in euro and Turkish lira.
The Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT) and Ziraat Bank both opened accounts for the Central bank of Iran on Saturday. State-owned Ziraat, which is Turkey’s second-largest bank, already has a representative office in Tehran.
Iranian and Turkish officials have also agreed to launch a joint banking committee with four state-owned and four private banks from each country as members, marking a new chapter in banking and trade ties between the two neighbors.
Three branches of Bank Mellat in Turkey also got connected to CBRT’s Clearing House, allowing it to resume operations in the country. Two other private Iranian lenders will also open branches in Turkey.
The Export Development Bank of Iran and Turk Exim Bank have agreed to start a seven-year cooperation scheme over Turk Exim’s investments in Iran.
The two neighbors have also agreed to use their respective national currencies for conducting one-third of their bilateral trade, according to Vaezi.
