TEHRAN- Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mohammadreza Farzin met with Syrian Communications and Technology Minister Iyad Mohammad al-Khatib and the country’s Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Mohammad Samer al-Khalil on Wednesday to discuss ways of expanding monetary and banking ties.

Speaking at the meeting, Farzin said: “Monetary and banking cooperation between Iran and Syria is followed seriously and will increase in the short term.”

Pointing to the necessity of developing banking, economic and commercial cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syria, the CBI governor said: “Increasing monetary, banking, commercial and joint investment relations and cooperation is on the serious agenda of Tehran and Damascus.”

He further referred to the development of Iran's electronic banking and monetary network and the CBI’s readiness for joint cooperation in this field with Syria, stating: “One of Iran's important strategies in developing commercial cooperation with neighboring countries is replacing the dollar with national currencies in monetary and banking relations in order to increase the volume of trade transactions.”

Samer al-Khalil for his part emphasized the need for increasing trade exchanges between Damascus and Tehran, saying: “Eliminating the dollar from trade relations and using national currencies in the context of monetary and banking cooperation between Syria and Iran will definitely lead to an increase in the volume of commercial exchanges between the two countries.”

Stating that the process of implementing the previously reached agreements between Iran and Syria is on a very good track in various fields, he stated: “The important goal is to reach results in all matters related to economic issues between the two countries by following up on the previous agreements that are in line with the interests of the two countries.”

Elsewhere in the meeting, Mohammad al-Khatib underlined Iran's progress in the field of electronic banking and called for the formation of a joint working group between the two countries in order to increase technological cooperation in the field of communication and banking.

Syrian ministers of trade and communications visited Iran along with a senior delegation with the aim of expanding relations between the two countries.

Syria proposes establishing joint free zone with Iran in Latakia

During the visit of the Syrian delegation to Tehran, the two sides have also discussed establishing a joint free zone in Syria.

In a meeting with Hojatollah Abdolmaleki, the secretary of Iran's Free Zones High Council, on Wednesday, Syrian economy minister proposed establishing a joint free trade zone in the country’s Latakia port city.

“Certainly, one of Syria's priorities in commercial and economic cooperation with Iran is to create a joint free zone,” Mohammad Samer al-Khalil said.

“Several meetings have been held to determine the best place for establishing a joint free trade zone with Iran and three areas of Latakia port, Abu Kamal and Hassia have been proposed as areas for the establishment of the joint free zone”, he added.

EF/MA