Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13
By Temkin Jafarov, Saeed Isayev - Trend:
Iran and China are in talks to establish a joint bank, head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Assadollah Asgaroladi said, Mehr news agency reported on Dec. 13.
"We are currently consulting with Iranian Central Bank regarding this idea," he said. "If the Central Bank agrees to it, we will go forward with it."
Asgaroladi said that if the permission is granted, then several Iranian companies will purchase some stocks of Chinese Banks, to be able to establish a joint bank with Iran in the future.
"We plan to develop our economic relations with China," he said, adding that even if Iran's relations with West are not great, the country still plans to develop its relations with China.
"We look for long-term relations with China," Asgaroladi noted.
Asgaroladi said on Dec. 11 that Tehran and Beijing plan to double their investments in each other's economic sectors during the next Iranian calendar year (starts March 21, 2014).
He said that the two countries' trade turnover was around $27.5 billion in the first eight months of the current year (started March 21), and Iran plans to increase the figure to $38 billion by the end of the year.
Iran exported $4.5 billion worth of non-oil goods to China in the first half of the current year, according to Asgaroladi.
He went on to add that Iran offered to buy shares in some Chinese banks, since this would help Iran bypass international sanctions' against the country's banking sector.
He went on to note that Tehran is considering buying the shares of some banks in other Southeast Asian countries as well.
Iranian media outlets reported on November 2 that Tehran and Beijing had reached an agreement to relax Iran's oil revenues which are blocked in Chinese banks.
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