Germany seeking to ease trade with Iran, preserve JCPOA
Director-General for Economic Affairs and Sustainable Development at Germany's Federal Foreign Office Miguel Berger said in a tweet on Tuesday that his country is and will seek to facilitate trade with Iran and maintain the 2015 nuclear deal officially known as JCPOA.
He made the remarks after the first financial transaction between Iran and Europe was done via the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX).
Berger maintained that this is a major step to support Iranian people by providing medical equipment.
INSTEX ensures the highest standards of adherence to the deal, he said.
Meanwhile, Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in her Twitter account welcomed the first transaction via INSTEX, saying that Germany, France and Britain have done the first transaction successfully and facilitated exports of medical equipment from EU to Iran.
German Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday confirmed first financial transactions via INSTEX, saying that Berlin, Paris and London have done first deal with Iran via the system to ease commerce with Iran.
It also hoped that INSTEX and its corresponding company in Iran, the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI), would cooperate with each other to develop the mechanism and do more transactions.
INSTEX was launched in January 2019 as part of a broader effort by Germany, France, and Britain--the so-called E3—to ease non-dollar transactions with Iran after the US abandoned the deal earlier.
However, European companies have not yet been ready for using the instrument for fear of US sanctions.
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