‘Need to commence banking relations between Iran, SL’ | Page 2 | Daily News

‘Need to commence banking relations between Iran, SL’

Dr. Hossein Bamiri, Commercial Attache, Embassy of Iran, New Delhi, urged the need to commence banking relations in order to give a further fillip to trade and investment ties between Sri Lanka and Iran.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Iran’, organized by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, yesterday.

According to Dr. Bamiri, at present, Iran and Sri Lanka don’t have banking relations. However, Iranian President Hasan Rauhani and Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Karu Jayasuriya have emphasised the need for development of banking relations between both countries at a meeting held in August, this year.

Dr. Bamiri also expressed the hope that banking relations between the two countries would start by the end of this year or in the first quarter of next year through Euro system.

Commenting on the bilateral trade between the two countries, Dr. Bamiri also mentioned that during the 2014-2016 period, there was not a much fluctuation in Iran’s imports to Sri Lanka and the main products that Iran imported from Sri Lanka included coffee, tea, spices, vegetables, paper and paperboard, perfumery, cosmetics and textiles and fiber, etc.

In the meantime, Iranian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, M. Zaeri Amirani speaking at the event, highlighted the importance of commencing banking relations with Sri Lanka to further boost commercial ties and also noted that issues pertaining to the bilateral relations between the two countries can be solved by avoiding negative people and shortsighted approaches.

Iran has helped fund a number of development projects in Sri Lanka. Iran has invested in Sri Lankan oil refineries and its investments have helped to double Sri Lankan oil production capacity. Iran has also invested in rural electrification in Sri Lanka.


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