Tehran, March 03: Head of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce says four Iranian private and government banks have applied to get permission to set up their branches in Iraqi cities.
“Four banks including Parsian, Karafarin, Keshavarzi and Post Bank are to open their branches in Iraq and they are trying to get permission from central banks of Iran and Iraq,” Fars news agency quoted Yahya Ale-Eshaq as saying on Wednesday.
Since relative security has been established in Iraq, foreign banks have been making great efforts to invest in financial as well as other sectors of Iraq’s economy.
The Iranian government and private investors have expressed major interest in participating in numerous investment opportunities in Iraq due to deep cultural ties between the two countries and the close proximity of the western neighbor.
Ale-Eshaq went on to say that Iraq’s Bank of Regional Cooperation entered Iran’s financial market by opening its branch in the country since 3 months ago.
He also said that Iran is pursuing to set up joint bank with Iraq to facilitate its trade and financial cooperation with its western neighbor.
The Iranian official noted that the volume of trade exchange between Iran and Iraq stood at “about 8 billion dollars” per year.
——–Agencies