Head of Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) Shapour Mohammadi announced the conclusion of a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Iraq. One of the most important objectives of this MoC is the establishment of mutual investment funds. The signing ceremony was attended by Chairman of Iraq Securities Commission Alaa al-Saedi and Iraqs Ambassador to Iran Saad Jawad Qandil. Fars news agency quoted Mohammadi as saying that the MoC includes the establishment of an SEO branch in Iraq and the creation of a platform for exporting and importing goods through this branch, as well as providing legal and technical advice on the capital market. “Unifying the legal regime of the Iranian and Iraqi capital market is one of the provisions of the memorandum, which will be overseen by a bilateral joint committee,” Mohammadi said. Saedi, for his part, said that with the “conclusion of this agreement, exchange of information and experience with Iran will take place in a specialized and advanced manner.” He added that the Commission seeks to take advantage of Iran’s experiences in the field of securities exchange business. Qandil said the MoC is a great step towards bilateral cooperation and will contribute to bilateral economic dealings. An Iraqi official source, who spoke of condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the MoC includes only covers the stock exchange, noting that the Commissions law allows such agreements between countries and companies. However, Iraqi economic expert Bassem Jamil Antoun doubted that the agreement could be implemented given the US sanctions imposed on Iran. “The Iraq Securities Commission has the right to conclude agreements with countries in case there are agreements that allow it. However, any transfer of money in dollars from Iraq to Iran cannot be performed because Iraq’s Central Bank is committed to applying sanctions on Iran,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Any money transfer in dollars must pass through the United States.”