Eximbank signs $15 bil. financial package with Iran

Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) CEO Lee Duk-hoon, sixth from left, poses with Sayyed Safdar Hosseini, fifth from left, chairman of the National Development Fund of Iran, after signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in loans and information exchange at the sovereign wealth fund's office in Tehran, Monday.
/ Courtesy of Korea Eximbank

By Kim Jae-won

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) said Tuesday that it signed a financial package worth $15 billion with the Iranian central bank and government, paving the way for local companies to enter the market there.

The Eximbank said the package consists of a $9 billion framework agreement, financing loans worth $4.5 billion and a $1.5 billion line of credit. To guarantee the financial support, the bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the health ministry there.

"We put in place stepping stones for Korean companies to join the Iranian government's state projects in the health, infrastructure, water resources, electricity, petrochemical, marine and steelmaking sectors," said Eximbank CEO Lee Duk-hoon. "We will make every effort to develop businesses in Iran and help Korean companies succeed there."

The bank said that with the agreement, the Eximbank can finance big oil, gas and infrastructure projects that the Iranian government is pushing. This means Korean companies have a good chance of winning orders.

President Park Geun-hye and her Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, also attended the signing ceremony of the deal sealed by Lee and Valiollah Seif, chief of the CBI. President Park was visiting the country to improve economic and political ties between the two nations.

Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves and the world's fourth-largest oil reserves. It has a population of 80 million and is the second-largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. It has big economic growth potential after economic sanctions against the country were halted in January, in exchange for Iran giving up its development of nuclear weapons.

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