EGFI Signs Deal With Polish Counterpart

The Export Guarantee Fund of Iran has signed an agreement to bolster banking and insurance cooperation with KUKE, its Polish counterpart.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the latest Berne Union conference held in Belgrade, Serbia, by Seyyed Kamal Seyyed Ali, EGFI chief executive and chairman, and Piotr Stolarczyk, vice president of KUKE's management board, the official website of EGFI reported.

According to EGFI, "both sides came to an agreement in the fields of banking and insurance cooperation as well as exchange of trade rating information and other fields that facilitate trade" in the Belgrade meeting.

KUKE has been providing insurance services to Polish entrepreneurs for more than 25 years and covers both export and domestic transactions to facilitate safe trade.

The Berne Union, also known as the International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers, is an international non-profit association and community for the global export credit and investment insurance industry that annually convenes several meetings.

As noted by EGFI, clinching agreements such as these, especially with European nations, can help Iran improve its risk rating in the foreseeable future.

The member states of BRICS, the association of five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that boast a total population of 3.6 billion or close to 45% of the world's population while accounting for more than 22% of global GDP at $17 trillion, have each upgraded Iran's risk rating to pre-sanctions levels, but the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development has yet to do the same.

At present, Iran has a risk rating of six out of seven with the organization, while Iran is of the belief that political factors alone account for the poor rating that should stand at four–its pre-sanctions level–or even three.