Banking Ties With Three African Nations

The trip of Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Africa also bore banking fruits, as Iran will be able to establish correspondent banking relations with South Africa, Uganda and Niger in the foreseeable future, the chief executive of the Export Development Bank of Iran said.

“Paying attention to Africa is a priority for Iran because good potentials exist in this continent, which could become the export destination for Iranian commodities,” Ali Salehabadi was also quoted as saying by IRNA at the end of the Iranian delegation’s trip to Africa.

Last Saturday, Zarif headed the delegation and met with top-tier officials of South Africa, Uganda and Niger, apart from taking part in a number of business forums.

According to Salehabadi, Iran achieved a degree of banking success as part of the mission and reached agreements with African banks to establish ties.

“In South Africa, it was decreed that their government would designate one of its banks and introduce it to EDBI so that we can have correspondent banking relations with it,” he said.

EDBI reached an agreement with another bank in Niger to establish correspondent ties, he added without naming the bank.

The official also noted that an agreement was signed with a Ugandan bank while negotiations were made with two others for correspondent links.

As the chief executive outlines, Iran finalized an approach with all three countries and their banks, based on which median banks in Europe will be used to clear any transacted funds.

Salehabadi deemed the Iranian delegation’s trip to Africa positive, saying it can result in higher volume of trade with the aforementioned countries and boost its current levels.