TEHRAN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Abdolnaser Hemmati, said the Iraqi officials have agreed to release Iranian assets frozen in the country, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
His negotiations with Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq Mustafa Ghalib Mukheef and Chairman of Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) Salem Jawad Abdul Hadi Al-Jalabi on Monday yielded "positive" results and Baghdad has agreed to release Iran's frozen assets for the purchase of basic commodities, Hemmati was quoted as saying.
Iran holds remarkable financial sources in Iraqi banks as a result of exporting electricity and gas to the country over the past years, he said.
Hemmati expressed hope that the agreement with Iraq would result in promotion of economic and banking interaction between the two neighbors.
The unblocked money of Iran would be spent on "humanitarian goods" which are exempted from the U.S. sanctions against the Islamic republic.
The U.S. administration recently added 18 Iranian state and non-state banks and financial sectors to its blacklist, which have so far remained intact by previous U.S. sanctions.
Hamid Hosseini, a member of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, said earlier that "up to 5 billion U.S. dollars in Iranian funds are frozen in Iraq's banks as a result of United States sanctions targeting Iran's economy."
On Monday, Hemmati visited Baghdad and met with the Iraqi banking officials, finance minister and prime minister. Enditem
