MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
ISLAMABAD: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has reportedly asked Islamabad-based Iranian Embassy to close its accounts due to sanctions on Iran.
This was disclosed by Ambassador of Iran in Islamabad, Mehdi Hoonerdost at a meeting with Minister for Commerce and Textile Pervaiz Malik.
The HBL wrote the accounts closure letter to the Iranian Embassy after the USA regulator imposed million of dollars fine on it. Bilateral trade between the two countries has increased in 2016-17 compared to previous year of 2015-16.
“Recently, Habib Bank Limited, through a letter to the Embassy of Iran in Islamabad, has asked to close their accounts in HBL due to the US sanctions on Iran. The embassy has conveyed to the HBL that accounts of Diplomatic Missions are exempted and are not affected by any sanctions,” the sources quoted the ambassador as saying.
The ambassador was of the view that despite sanctions, Iran’s trade with China, Russia, Turkey and other developed countries has grown significantly; however, Pakistani banks are reluctant to carry out transactions with their counterparts in Iran.
The minister for commerce and textile assured the ambassador that he would raise the issue of closure of accounts of Embassy of Iran in HBL with Ministry of Finance/State Bank of Pakistan.
Mehdi Hoonerdost said that both the countries have direct land and air connectivity with two flights per week from Karachi and Lahore. Relevant Iranian authorities are working to start operations on Islamabad-Tehran sector.
However, non-availability of banking channel is the most important obstacles hampering expansion of bilateral trade due to which exporters and importers use third country’s land for export and import purposes.
The banking operations have not yet been started between the two countries despite signing of MoU on banking payment arrangements in April 2017 between the State Bank of Pakistan and Central Bank of Iran.
The commerce minister in remarks said that necessary measures to resolve issues in financial transactions are being taken. He was of the view that progress on bilateral trade and economic relations should not be impeded by the sanctions by international players.
He said the 5th ECO-Ministerial Meeting on Commerce is scheduled on January 23, 2018 in Islamabad and the minister for commerce has invited his Iranian counterpart to attend the meeting, adding that confirmation from the Minister for Industry, Mine and Trade is awaited.
After detailed deliberations, both sides agreed that the dates for the 8th meeting of Pakistan-Iran Joint Trade Committee (JTC) will be proposed by the ministry for consideration by the Iranian side.
The sources said the Iranian side will convey confirmation of participation in the 5th Ministerial Meeting on Commerce and Trade in Islamabad on January 23, 2018 at the earliest.
According to sources, officials from the both countries at a recent meeting in Tehran discussed progress on proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in detail.
“We are very close to sign the FTA but lacking of banking channel is hindering the plan,” said an official.
He, however, was of the view that some payment mechanism has to be found out to streamline payments so that exporters and importers of both countries are facilitated.
