Wednesday, July 31, 2019

EU-Initiated Payment System That Circumvents U.S. Sanctions With Iran Completes First Transactions

Xinhuanet: EU-initiated payment system with Iran completes first transactions, full-mode operation on its way

VIENNA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The European Union(EU)-initiated payment system with Iran has seen the completion of its first transactions and is expected to be officially launched after related procedures are aligned, a Russian official said after a joint commission of the Iranian nuclear deal meeting in Vienna on Sunday.

The system, formally known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), "is operating in a pilot mode. In order to make it operate in full mode some bureaucratic procedures between the INSTEX and the Iranian structure similar to INSTEX need to be finished," Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was quoted by Sputnik news agency as saying.

It was announced in January that the INSTEX, the European Union (EU)'s payment system to facilitate trade with Iran to get around U.S. sanctions, would secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018.

Following a meeting of the joint commission of the Iranian nuclear deal in June, the mechanism became operational and available to all EU member states.

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WNU Editor: EU companies will still be exposed to U.S. sanctions, but this new payment system will help those who want to do business with Iran. Here is a good description on how this payment mechanism is going to work .... How Instex, Europe's Trade Channel With Iran, Will Work (NPR).

Update: Russia now wants to join this EU system to circumvent U.S. sanctions .... Russia wants in on INSTEX (Al Jazeera).

2 comments:

  1. Some time ago a lot of countries were defaulting on their debt which meant a lot of countries were about to lose money.


    Basically country A. holding debt for country B. traded that debt to country C. that had other ways of recovering the debt from country B. In trade country A. received ownership of debt owed by some other country they could collect from. Not a new system in the history of international debt management but, effective. Ultimately it required manipulation of terms etc., but it worked for the most part.

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