TEHRAN - The governors of the central banks of Iran and Qatar have emphasized the necessity of increasing monetary, banking, and financial cooperation between the two countries, the portal of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) reported.

As reported, CBI Governor Mohammadreza Farzin, who has traveled to Doha, in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani stressed that the increase in monetary, banking, and financial cooperation would be the basis for the development of trade exchanges between Iran and Qatar.

“Considering the existing economic capacities of the two countries, strengthening bilateral and multilateral banking relations is on our agenda,” Farzin said.

He further noted that with the development of monetary and banking relations between Tehran and Doha, the volume of trade between the two countries will also grow significantly.

Accordingly, relevant cooperation should be increased more rapidly to realize this goal, he added.

The Qatari central bank governor, for his part, referred to Tehran-Doha joint cooperation in various economic and commercial fields, saying: “There are many opportunities to increase trade exchanges between Iran and Qatar, which should be benefited from by using the monetary and banking relations of the two countries to realize the mutual economic capacities.”

In this meeting, the governors of the central banks also emphasized the facilitation of the activity of financial platforms and the use of private sector companies in the monetary and banking spheres in order to achieve the economic and commercial goals of both sides.

As announced by an official with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the value of trade between Iran and Qatar is estimated to reach $3 billion by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (begins on March 2025).

Farzad Piltan, the director-general of TPO's Office of West Asian Countries, said such amount of trade will include export, import, joint investment, transit, re-export, and joint production.

The governmental officials of the two countries are negotiating and are continuously providing infrastructure to achieve this goal, he added.

In early March, the former head of TPO stressed the expansion of trade ties with Qatar and cooperation with Qatari traders and businessmen in the field of partnership and joint investment, and infrastructure development.

Alireza Peyman-Pak made the remarks on the sidelines of the first day of the Iran-Qatar business forum in Tehran.

Referring to the 13th government's emphasis on developing relations with its neighbors, the official said: "Qatar is one of the countries that, although it has close political relation with Iran, unfortunately in recent years enough attention has not been paid to the use of commercial and economic opportunities of cooperation with this country”.

“During the past few months and in the 13th government, we have paid serious attention to the development of business relations with this country”, he noted, adding, “In this regard, we have sent commercial attaché to Qatar, established a trade center, held a special exhibition, and sent business delegations”.

Also, during a meeting between Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and Qatar’s Ambassador to Tehran Mohammed bin Hamad Al Hajri in last December, the two sides stressed the expansion and strengthening of ties and cooperation between the two countries in different areas.

In the meeting, which was on the sidelines of a ceremony hosted by Al Hajri on the occasion of Qatar National Day, Mehrabian, who is the Iranian chairman of Iran-Qatar Joint Economic Committee, emphasized the need to further develop and consolidate the relations between the two sides in the political, economic and cultural fields, and added: “I hope that by relying on common capacities and actively exploiting the existing capabilities with the Qatari government, we will be able to make further progress in line with the interests of the two nations.”

Referring to the long history of cooperation between the two countries, the minister continued: “The holding of the eighth meeting of Iran-Qatar Joint Economic Committee in June of this year in Doha provided a more suitable opportunity to enter the cooperation into a new and strategic arena with more serious decisions.”

Also, in a meeting between Mohsen Rezaei, the Iranian vice president for economic affairs, and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani in last October, the two sides discussed ways of expanding trade ties between the two countries and emphasized the need for taking the necessary measures to reach the goal of reaching three billion dollars of annual trade by 2025.

During the meeting, which was also attended by the TPO's former head, the Iranian side proposed drawing a roadmap for the two countries’ trade development which was welcomed by Qatar's Emir.

Rezaei and Peyman-Pak visited Doha on top of a trade delegation to attend the opening ceremony of Iran’s exclusive exhibition in the country.

Back in early June 2022, Iran and Qatar inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the end of the two countries' eighth Joint Economic Committee meeting in Doha to outline avenues for future cooperation.

The MOU was signed by Mehrabian and Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Qassim Al-Thani who co-chaired the committee meeting.

This memorandum determines the framework of cooperation in various fields including transit, transportation, industry and trade, energy, customs and free zones, tourism, culture, agriculture, sports, etc.

Speaking at the eighth meeting of the Iran-Qatar Joint Economic Committee, Mehrabian emphasized the Iranian government's approach to developing international relations and said: "Considering our good relations in the past, this meeting should be a new chapter in the development of cooperation between the two countries."

“We hope to see a significant increase in interactions with the agreements reached in this meeting,” he added.

"One of the most important goals of the meeting is to support the Iranian and Qatari private sectors, and we are happy to see that a large conference with the participation of Iranian businessmen is being held in Doha at the same time as the meeting of the joint committee," Mehrabian said.

According to the official, eight MOUs on food, medical industry, knowledge-based companies, etc. were also signed between businessmen of the two countries on the sidelines of the mentioned meeting.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) and the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry also signed an MOU to form a Joint Economic Council.

The document was signed by Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Thani, Chairman of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and his Iranian Counterpart Gholam-Hossein Shafeie in Doha.

In the signing ceremony, Al-Thani hailed the formation of the council makes up of elites from different economic sectors of the two countries.

He said that the council will help discover investment opportunities in both countries and develop mutual cooperation.

The Qatari official stressed the importance of the positive role that the private sector can play in developing trade between the two sides.

Shafeie, for his part, announced Iran’s willingness to boost trade ties with Qatar and said that there are numerous grounds for cooperation in this regard.

EF/MA

Photo: CBI Governor Mohammadreza Farzin (L) and Governor of Qatar Central Bank Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani