“Brazil” will accept payment from Iran in euros and other currencies for planes, cars and machinery to sidestep lingering US sanctions on the oil-rich nation, Trade Minister Armando Monteiro said on Tuesday.
Monteiro is the first Brazilian official to confirm that Latin America’s biggest economy could accept payment in other currencies including the euro from Iran, which is forbidden from using the US financial system under the sanctions.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff could visit Iran this year to bolster exports, he said.
‘Everyone is racing after Iran now … The trade potential is very big,’ said Monteiro. ‘We will find ways to settle payments, the type of payment and currency.’
Monteiro said Brazil aims to triple trade flows with Iran to $5 billion by 2019.
Rousseff lifted UN-imposed sanctions against the OPEC nation last week after meeting with the Iranian ambassador, hoping to bolster trade between the two nations, which have enjoyed warm ties for years despite tensions with the West.
Although it is not clear whether any attempt to circumvent the U.S. financial system could raise tensions with Washington, Brazil’s leftist government in the past has annoyed the United States by drawing closer to Tehran.
Sources: IRNA briefing form Reuters
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