French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Paris is working on plans to issue direct loans to companies eager to invest in Iran.
“We are trying to help these companies,” Sapin told reporters at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Tayebnia, in Tehran.
“They will be able to apply for loans, but it’s not active yet. We are working on this,” he added.
Sapin said he was “confident” that banking relations between Tehran and Paris would be normalized in due time and said he was seeking clarification from the US government on the extent to which its sanctions will impact French banks working with Iran.
Iranian finance minister noted meanwhile, that the nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) prepared the ground for cooperation between Tehran and Paris in economic and investment fields.
French companies were among the first to return to Iran after anti-Tehran sanctions were removed last year under a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the nuclear deal in July 2015 and implemented it in January last year.
For his part, Tayyebnia said “French finance minister invited Head of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif to pay a visit to Paris and explore ways of promotion of ties with France’s central bank.”
“We have talked Iran’s effective steps for reforming the banking system and establishment of anti-money laundering regulations,” the Iranian economy minister added.
He said, “It is expected that Iran get off the FATF blacklist in June with support from the European countries including France.”
Source: Agencies
