Report: France, Germany to Host Iran-EU Trade Mechanism Meeting

France and Germany have agreed to host the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) meetings to keep trade between Iran and the European Union alive, media reports said.

The German weekly business news magazine, Wirtschaftswoche, wrote that the meetings on the EU's promised trade mechanism aimed at facilitating trade with Iran in the face of the US sanctions will be held in Germany and France.

Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, the other potential candidates, had refused to host the SPV in fear of US reprisals.

Nine countries are interested in joining the Special Purpose Vehicle, including Italy, Spain, Austria and the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), the it added.

For the Europeans, the SPV, which is initially intended to start as a small entity and could acquire a banking license over time, has a high political value.

"It is important for us to defend the interests of our companies and to underpin our economic independence from the US," the German weekly quoted a diplomat as saying.

The trade mechanism is part of the EU’s efforts to encourage Iran to remain in the nuclear deal following the unilateral withdrawal of the US back in May, by offering an alternative payment channel to keep trade flowing with Iran in defiance of US sanctions. The SPV is intended to make cross-border payments superfluous, so that a European exporter to Iran would be paid by a European importer from Iran.

source: FARS News Agency