TEHRAN- During a meeting between the governors of the central banks of Iran and Qatar, in Doha on Wednesday, the two sides discussed the strategies for developing financial and banking relations between the two countries.

In the meeting between Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Mohammad-Reza Farzin and Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, necessary agreements were made regarding the start of banking operations in order to use the foreign currency resources transferred to six Iranian banks in Qatar.

Last week, Farzin announced the deposit of €5.573 billion from Iran's blocked resources to the accounts of six Iranian banks in Al-Ahli and Dukhan banks in Qatar

Speaking in a TV program, the official said that on August 10 of this year, all inaccessible Iranian funds that were kept in South Korean banks and the Seoul branch of Bank Mellat were transferred to the account of the Swiss Central Bank to be converted into euros.

He stated that during this period, Keshavarzi, Saman, Pasargad, Tourism, Shahr, and Karafarin banks opened accounts in the two mentioned Qatari banks, and added: “According to the agreements, all payments were made by brokers of Qatari banks as well as SWIFT.”

“Yesterday we received an official letter from the Qatari authorities that six bank accounts have been activated and today 5.573 million euros were deposited into the bank accounts”, Farzin announced.

In the meeting between the two countries’ central bank governors, which was also attended by the deputy governors and general directors of the two banks, the governors of the central banks of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar pointed to the numerous economic capacities and diverse fields of commercial cooperation between Iran and Qatar, and emphasized the need to increase monetary, banking and financial cooperation between the two countries.

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 includes 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”.

MA

Photo: CBI Governor Mohammad-Reza Farzin (L) and QCB Governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani