Trade between Britain and Iran is beginning to grow and the British government is working to resolve banking sector concerns that are limiting further expansion, British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox said yesterday.
Fox said that Anglo-Iranian relations had improved since Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran last year and that Britain would work to expand bilateral trade following Brexit.
He said that while this was an opportunity to put UK-Iranian relations on a new footing, the government was also “deeply concerned” about Iran’s record on human rights and British-Iranian dual nationals detained there.
Despite the removal of international banking restrictions in January, Tehran has secured links with only a limited number of smaller banks, as US sanctions remain in force and large foreign institutions still fear potential fines.
“Slowly, but with increasing enthusiasm, British companies are starting to do business with Iran again... We are seeing the first signs of growing trade between the UK and Iran,” Fox told a conference in London.
“The banking sector’s ongoing concerns about facilitating payments or providing financial services means that the benefits of sanctions relief are not yet being fully realized; resolving these problems remains a priority for this government,” he added.
Norman Lamont, Britain’s trade envoy to Iran and a former British minister of finance, said the deadlock over progress on banking access to Iran was “profoundly unsatisfactory.”
“This is an embarrassing situation... These difficulties only strengthen the critics of [Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani,” he told the event.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has tried to promote deeper international trade for Iran while still limiting US business engagement due to sanctions that bar US banks from doing business with Iran and prevent transactions with Iran in funds processed through the US financial system.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has spent months trying to encourage non-US banks and companies to boost trade, although he has acknowledged the tough process ahead.
Iranian Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad said the banking problems were “highly troublesome” for Iran and said the US was “disappointed” with the situation.
Fox said the government was working with the banking sector to find a solution for Iranian payments and that Britain was well-placed to help private Iranian banks modernize.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
RSS