Iran and New Zealand’s export credit agencies have signed a memorandum of arrangement to increase collaboration in trade and investment.

The agreement was signed by the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) and its counterpart, New Zealand Export Credit Office (NZECO) during the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s visit to Wellington.

It covers co-insurance, re-insurance, credit assessment, claims prevention, debt recovery and any other area which helps exporters of both countries.

EGFI’s chairman and CEO, Seyed Kamal Seyed Ali, says: “The entering of Iranian exporters to new markets such as New Zealand is of high importance, and signing this [agreement] between EGFI and NZECO can facilitate and provide the ground for it. Moreover, this is a positive signal from the New Zealand government to its banks for restarting banking relations with Iranian banks.”