Iraq has reached settlement on payment of arrears to Iran but the process takes about a month before trade between the two neighboring countries returns to normal, said the co-chairman of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce.
The agreement was reached in early March, said Hamid Hosseini speaking to IRNA.
Hosseini said that Iraq has been given exemption and can pay back its debts to Iran regardless of the sanctions.
He added that following the talks between Iran and Trade Bank of Iraq, the bank announced that Iranian traders can continue their trade with the blocked money.
Hosseini went on to say that Iranian and Iraqi companies could cooperate with each other with Euros, dollars, or dinars.
According to the instructions, Iranian companies can make their purchases from Iraq and when the goods enter the international waters 90% and when the goods are being unloaded 10% of the Iranian money blocked in the Iraqi bank will be freed.
In the first 11 months of the Iranian year 1399 (ending on March 20), Iran exported 103.090 million tons of goods with the value of $31.198 billion and imported 30.818 million tons of goods with the value of $34.321 billion.