CBI governor, Iraqi PM discuss boosting financial coop.

The two sides explored the avenues of boosting bilateral cooperation, with a focus on banking ties and financial exchanges to remove the hurdles in the trades between the two neighbors.

Hemmati is scheduled to hold talks with a number of senior political and economic officials in the Arab country during his two-day stay.

The CBI governor and his Iraqi counterpart Ali Mohsen Al-Allaq signed an agreement late Tuesday on a payment mechanism to remove the obstacles blocking the settlement of Baghdad’s debts to Tehran.

The deal focuses on a new mechanism to facilitate the repayment of Iraq’s electricity and gas dues to Iran. It will also help pave the way for the businesses of the two countries to conduct their mutual transactions.

According to Hemmati, two sides will put all-out efforts to overcome shortcomings in financial transactions, which have created some hurdles for Iranian exporters.

Iraq is now the second top destination of Iran’s non-oil exports. According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Iran exported goods worth over $7.5 billion to Iraq during the past 10 months of the current fiscal (through Jan. 20), indicating a 45% rise in comparison to the similar period of last year.

Message end/