SHAFAQNA – MNA: The European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini’s aide said that eight more countries have decided to join the Instex mechanism for trade with Iran.
INSTEX is a special-purpose vehicle established in January 2019 by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran in a bid to bypass US sanctions.
So far, INSTEX has not become operational despite intense efforts on all sides.
On September 23, CEO of Iran’s Special Trade and Finance Instrument (STFI), Iranian counterpart to INSTEX, announced on Monday that a European bank has been appointed for carrying out financial transactions of INSTEX, while the second bank is to be selected, soon.
“Due to the US-led sanctions on Iranian oil, INSTEX cannot be funded by oil revenues, therefore, Iran seeks to finance the European financial mechanism through forex revenues including those from exports of non-oil goods,” Ali Asghar Noori said.
“The other negotiation option with European parties is funding INSTEX via selling oil to non-European customers such as some Asian countries,” he added.
As he admitted, during his recent visit to Iran, Chairman of INSTEX Michael Erhard Bock, has made some positive remark about the probability of allocation of the French $15 billion credit to Ian in near future.
Presently, seven Iranian banks are the shareholder of STFI, the official said.
The new INSTEX president said on September 18, that A number of European banks and firms have expressed readiness to engage in Europe’s proposed financial channel, called INSTEX, which is aimed at helping Iran circumvent the US’ sanctions in its foreign trades.
“We have seen some requests from European companies such as one French firm that wishes to sell cattle to Iran,” Bock said in a meeting with the representatives of the Iranian private sector in Tehran.
He added that some small Italian, German and French banks are also ready to take part in the mechanism to clear the barter trade.
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