TEHRAN – Abdolnasser Hemmati, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), visited Baghdad on Monday morning to resolve “complicated banking issues” between Iran and Iraq.

Upon his arrival, Hemmati held talks with his Iraqi counterpart Mustafa Ghaleb, making headway in resolving the banking issues with neighboring Iraq.

During the meeting, Ghaleb said the Iraqi authorities are determined to resolve banking issues between the two countries and these issues will be resolved soon, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

“We do our utmost to continue the cooperation between the two countries. The existing problems related to Iran’s financial and monetary demands will be settled,” Ghaleb was quoted as saying by IRNA.
 
The governor of Iraq’s central bank proposed that the two countries set up a joint committee to explore ways to resolve financial differences between the two countries.

For his part, Hemmati expressed hope that “the complicated banking issues” between Iran and Iraq will be resolved with the cooperation of Ghaleb.

The CBI governor also said Iran-Iraq relations are “very important and effective”, underlining that Tehran attaches importance to the expansion of ties with Iraq.

In addition to Ghaleb, Hemmati’s schedule includes meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Finance Minister Ali Allawi, and Salem Jawad al-Chalabi, the head of the Trade Bank of Iraq.

The CBI governor’s visit to Iraq is the second visit to Iraq in four months. He traveled to Baghdad on June 17. During the June visit, Hemmati held talks about how to pay Iraq’s debt to Iran. At the end of that visit, Hemmati announced that Iraqi officials expressed readiness to pay their debt to Iran, underlining that the Iraqi side agreed to settle its gas and electricity-related debts to Iran through providing Iran with foods and medicines.

SM/PA