Iran & Russia Plan to Set Up Joint Islamic Bank

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Iran and Russia are exploring the possibility of establishing a joint Islamic bank.

“The creation of a Russian-Iranian Islamic bank was discussed. Our banks are exploring the mechanism, the related decision has not been made yet,” Novak said on Tuesday at a meeting of the permanent Iranian-Russian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic cooperation in Tehran, the Tass news agency reported.

He also said that the amount of financial payments between Iran and Russia has tripled in 2016.

“The return to normal bank payments is going to become a powerful trigger. This year the amount of financial payments has tripled,” he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Novak said the trade turnover between Tehran and Moscow jumped by almost 80 percent in 2016.

“We were able to increase turnover by almost 80% against last year.”

During the meeting, which was also attended by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the giant Russian oil and gas company, Gazprom, signed a major deal to promote cooperation in the development of two oil fields in western Iran.

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