Iran Insists on Ditching Dollar in Foreign Trade: VP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said the country insists on using currencies other than US dollar in its trade transactions with other countries.
“At the current stage, we insist on using official currencies other than US dollar, like euro, in international transactions,” Jahangiri said, addressing a ceremony to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the National Day of Exports in Tehran on Saturday.
Accordingly, he added, the Islamic Republic is seeking to reach agreements with foreign countries to use national currencies.
The first vice-president went on to say that in his recent trip to Turkey, Tehran and Ankara agreed to use their national currencies in bilateral trade.
Earlier this week, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif and his Turkish counterpart, Murat Cetinkaya, signed an agreement according to which the two countries can conduct trade transactions through using their national currencies.
Seif and Cetinkaya signed the currency swap deal during a meeting between Jahangiri and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara.
According to the agreement, the two countries have assigned a total credit line of 5 billion Turkish liras and its equivalent amount in the Iranian rials to the operating banks of the two countries, which will be used to open letters of credit for the merchants of the two countries with a one-year maturity.
Iran and Turkey have ramped up efforts to boost bilateral trade since the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
The deal took effect in January 2016, terminating all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.
