Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) announced that Austrian export credit agency OeKB has raised its cover for Iran transactions to one billion euros.

The announcement by Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling came during a meeting with CBI Governor Valiollah Seif in Vienna, Mehr News Agency reported.

“In the meeting, it was announced that OeKB’s insurance cover for exports to Iran has increased to 1 billion euros from 280 million euros,” reported the news agency quoting a CBI statement.

Schelling also said his country is interested in “completing banking relationship” with Iran and taking measures to remove obstacles, besides forging brokerage ties with Iranian banks, it added.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) welcomes Austrian President Heinz Fischer during a visit to Tehran in September 2015.

Banking ties

The governors of the two nations’ central banks, Ewald Nowotny and Seif, met on Tuesday, according to sources, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private, Bloomberg reported.

Top three Austrian banks: Erste Group Bank AG, UniCredit Bank Austria AG and Raiffeisen Bank International AG are among the participants, the sources said.

Raiffeisen has been looking into the option of reopening its office in the country, Chief Executive Officer Karl Sevelda said in January.

Austrian and Iranian bankers met in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of trade financing, people familiar with the discussion said.

Austrian companies became the first Western firms to put down concrete stakes in the Islamic Republic when Tehran reached a nuclear accord, signing a number of agreements with Iranian partners in September 2015.

Raiffeisen Bank and Erste Bank from Austria along with banks from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey and Belgium have set up shop in Iran, handling transactions with the energy-rich country while major banks have stayed away, Press TV said./ IRAN-Daily

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While in the United States to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Iran’s president met a number of world’s leaders on the sidelines of the event on Tuesday.

The meetings indicate Iran’s importance for the leaders in order to expand their economic and political relations, particularly after the last year nuclear agreement between Tehran and P5+1 group of countries.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and British Prime Minister Theresa May met for the first time on the sidelines of the 71st UNGA session in New York.

During the meeting, Rouhani lauded the promotion of ties between Tehran and London, and called the nuclear deal a great development and a basis for closer bilateral cooperation.

Obstacles to economic cooperation

He also called on all parties of the agreement to fulfill their obligations, adding that until all the technical obstacles in banking and insurance services are not removed, the other side’s commitments are not fulfilled. Rouhani said the UK can take the key step in this regard.

The British premier hailed the expansion of Tehran-London relations in political and economic fields in recent years and said Britain would back further development of ties.

Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Rouhani arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday.

Main trade partner

Rouhani also held a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi where he stated that during the post-deal era Italy has the opportunity to become Iran’s main trade partner in Europe.

“Recent bilateral trips are a turning point in relations and a sign of determination of the two nations and governments to bolster cooperation,” said Rouhani.

On January 16, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Britain, France, China and Russia – plus Germany started implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) they had clinched on July 14, 2015. Under the nuclear agreement, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

“Both sides must be committed to the JCPOA’s terms that can provide the basis for strengthening regional peace and security,” Rouhani added.

Fight against terrorism

In a separate meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the fringes of the event, Rouhani said Iran and Turkey can play a key role in the fight against terrorism in the region.

“Terrorism is a threat to all of us and the two countries (Iran and Turkey) can play an important role in the fight against terrorism and insecurity in the region, Syria and Iraq in particular,” Rouhani said.

Erdogan thanked Iran for supporting the Turkish government in the early hours of this year’s failed coup attempt in his country on July 15, saying that Ankara is confident that Tehran will continue its support for its neighboring country.

“Iran and Turkey are two major Islamic countries in the region,” he added, noting that the two countries can cooperate and play a “determining” role in defusing the ongoing crises and establishing security in the region, particularly in Syria and Iraq.

Rouhani also met French President Francois Hollande and Slovenian President Borut Pahor on Tuesday.

The Iranian president is scheduled to deliver a speech at the General Assembly session on Thursday. He is also scheduled to meet with senior officials of other countries as well as a number of political and economic elites.

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Iranian Naft Airlines, a homebound charter airline providing passenger and cargo services to Iran’s Ministry of Oil, said it received the first Boeing jet.

The aircraft, one of the four Boeing 737 single-aisle jetliners bought from the US aviation company, was delivered to Naft Airlines on Sunday, its Managing Director Nurollah Rezai Niyaraki said on Monday, reported Shana.

“After the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), an agreement was signed with the Boeing Company for purchase of four 737s and on Sunday, one of the ordered aircraft was delivered to Iranian Naft Airlines,” he said.

The aircraft took off at 17 local time on its first flight from Tehran to Ahvaz on Sunday, the official said.

“According to the timeline, the remaining three Boeing 737s will gradually join the Iranian Naft Airlines fleet at specific dates” by the end of the current Iranian year on March 20, 2017, Rezai Niyaraki added.

According to reports, the aircraft, with a capacity to carry up to 148 passengers, had been leased to Iran under the complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) arrangement.

In June, Boeing signed a memorandum of agreement with Iran Air to sell a total of 80 aircraft and lease a further 29 to the company in a potential deal worth about $25 billion.

Naft Airlines appears to be the first Iranian company to have its deal cleared by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Iranian airlines have some 60 Boeing airplanes in service, but most of them were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and are in a dire need of repair or retirement.

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Iran’s VP for Science and Technology, Sattari, said that 98% of Iran’s demand for medicine is produced domestically and Iran will soon export drugs to Europe.

“There are excellent potentials in the area of bio-technology in Iran,” said Iranian Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari on Thursday while visiting a pharmaceutical company in Alborz province, “it is one of the areas that can home many modern businesses in near future.”

The official boasted that 98% of domestic need for medicine is produced by Iranian companies and highlighted that a majority of the productions is in the area of bio-technology.

“Because of their added value and high price, these drugs provide a good business opportunity,” asserted the Iranian vice-president, “the domestic provision of these medicines reduces the prices to one-seventh of their foreign replica without any insurance supplement.”

He said that exporting of the Iranian medicines is very important and since two years ago Iran is exporting to neighboring countries and Russia.

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