No problem in petrochemical exports to China: Minister

EghtesadOnline: The problem of receiving the money for petrochemical exports to China is a business matter and not a political one, says the Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh on Friday.

News ID: ۷۴۲۸۹۸

22 July 2017

“The involved firms are private companies and not public and they are following the issue,” IRNA quoted Zangeneh as saying.

“Of course the government is helping to overcome these petrochemical complexes,” he added.

In recent weeks, there have been some problems on money transactions from the export of petrochemicals to China.

Some observers said it was Iran’s blocked money in China and some critics, without enough evidence, said that China had sanctioned the import of Iranian petrochemical products which was denied by the related authorities.

To a question when the problem will be solved, Zangeneh said, “It is not clear, we are only one side of the problem and the other side is China.”

The true cause of this problem is that since May, the rules and laws to fight money laundering have been put to practice in China according to which exporting petrochemical products and money transaction are strictly monitored.

Earlier, Marzieh Shahdaei, the Vice Minister of Petroleum on Petrochemical Affairs had said, “There is no problem to export petrochemicals to China, but the problem is on receiving the money for the exports.”

“The government is pursuing the issue and the Chinese ambassador in Tehran has been asked to provide sufficient explanations,” Shahdaei said.