TEHRAN - Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) met with Iraq's Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi on Monday to discuss the expansion of bilateral relations and issues related to the banking and financial sectors, IRNA reported.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, who arrived in Baghdad on top of a high-ranking delegation, visited the Arab neighbor to meet with the country’s high-ranking officials, including the Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the Minister of Finance, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq Mustafa Ghalib Mukheef.

This is Hemmati’s second visit to Iraq in the last four months. The CBI governor had previously visited Baghdad on June 17.

During his previous visit, he met with the Prime Minister, Governor of the Central Bank, and Minister of Finance of Iraq to discuss financial and economic relations and the development of relations between the two countries.

Almost a year ago, Iran and Iraq inked a banking agreement and the CBI governor made a trip to Iraq in mid-June.

Following Hemmati’s visit, heading a high-ranking delegation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Tehran in early July.

During Al-Kadhimi’s visit, the two sides had finalized a foreign currency agreement, based on which several billions of dollars would be injected into Iran's market.

Iran and Iraq had previously agreed to eliminate the U.S. dollar from their trade and to carry out trade exchanges with national currencies.

The two countries are planning to increase their mutual trade to $20 billion in the near future.

EF/MA