TEHRAN, Iran, Feb.1
Trend:
The first trial trade through Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) has been carried out at the amount of $2.5 million, Managing Director of the Association of Iranian Banks in Europe (AIBE) Amir Alizadeh said, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Referring to the launch of the humanitarian channel in Switzerland, Alizadeh said that the Swiss government had been negotiating the issue with the US government for a year.
“The result was the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement, which received the necessary licenses from the US Treasury," the managing director added. “The first trial trade amounting to $2.5 million allowed for purchase of cancer and organ transplant drugs.”
“The Swiss mechanism is different from INSTEX,” Alizadeh said adding that this trial trade was carried out through BCP Bank in Geneva.
“The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), will provide the US Treasury with all the details of transactions through this mechanism, including buyer information, to avoid any problems for the Swiss bank,” the official said.
"This channel is a positive but limited step towards bringing our humanitarian goods to our citizens; we shall see whether this mechanism will continue to operate. It should be also noted that these goods are not part of the US Secondary Sanctions and can be financed through regular banking channels,” said Alizadeh.
On Jan. 30, the Swiss humanitarian channel to bring food and medicines to Iran kicked off trial operations, the US Department of the Treasury and the Swiss government said.
SHTA seeks to ensure that Swiss-based exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical and medical sectors can sell their products to Iran without landing in the crosshairs of the US Treasury.
The arrangement gives firms that sell humanitarian goods a secure channel with a Swiss bank through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed, the Swiss government said.