Iran says Iraq ready to pay debts for energy imports

Tehran [Iran], May 1:Iraq is ready to pay its debts to Iran and the repayment procedure will begin in the coming days, Yahya Al Eshaq, chairman of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, told the Iranian news agency IRNA on Saturday.
Iraq would pay off 1 billion U.S. dollars, mostly in energy bills, to the Iranian government via a mechanism developed by the Iranian central bank, Al Eshaq said.
He noted that the Iranian private sector is receiving another 9 billion dollars of repayment from Iraq.
Iran and Iraq have regular bilateral trade transactions both in private sectors and by the governments, Al Eshaq added.
The U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have placed obstacles for Iraq to pay for energy imports from Iran through the international financial system.
On Thursday, the visiting Iraqi Acting Electricity Minister Adel Karim said the two countries were reaching an agreement on settling Iraq's gas import payments to Iran, Iran's daily Tehran Times reported.
Karim made the remarks after meeting with the Iranian Minister of Petroleum JavadOwji, saying that Iran has agreed to increase gas supplies to Iraq this summer following the settlement of Iraq's dues.
Source: Xinhua