The Iranian ambassador to Turkey says Tehran and Ankara are considering establishing a joint bank to keep flow of bilateral trade, stressing that such mechanism won't skirt the unilateral US sanctions.
“Some technical work on barter trade has been carried out to also start bilateral trade in local currencies,” Iranian envoy Mohammad Farazmand told reporters in Ankara on Thursday. “We are also considering estbalishing financial mechanisms such a joint bank,” he stressed.
Farazmand added the there’s been a rise in trade of non-sanctioned goods between the two countries since the renewed sanctions took effect.
“We've got really intertwined relations with Turkey. We will ensure that our relations will not fall below 2018 in 2019 and we will try to compensate for the losses due to sanctions. We see a rise in trade related to products not covered by the sanctions,” he was quoted as saying by Sputnik Turkey.
“We are developing a variety of financial mechanisms to protect the Iran-Turkey trade relations,” said head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Turkey.
“Establishment of a bank is also independent of the sanctions. Iran and Turkey have the financial resources coming from the gas trade. We want to use this supply. We don't want to bypass anybody. We do not want to do an illegal business in any way,” Farazmand said, stressing that such financial mechanism is to allow continuation of trade between Tehran and Ankara.
Iran is the second largest oil supplier to Turkey after Russia. Turkey has no reserves of its own so is dependent on oil and gas imports mainly from Iran.
“These are technical mechanisms that need to be carefully studied. The details of the institutions of the two countries are being worked out. The clearing system can trade with local coins. The development of the two countries' trade is their most natural right,” noted the Iranian ambassador, criticising the US “economic terrorism beyond economic sanctions”.
Earlier, Iranian Foreing Minister Mohamamd Javad Zarif had also said the two neighbours are trying to work out a financial channel to keep the flow of import and export despite US sanction.
Also, Reza Kami, President of Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce had proposed that both countries create a joint bank in a bid to resolve the financial problems that have been caused by the reimposition of unilateral US sanctions on Iran.