Iran-Austria finance agreement another turning point: Envoy

'No doubt some terms, like dialogue, respect, trust and cooperation, are among the key words of Iran-Austria's long-standing ties that date as back as several centuries,' Abdollah Molaei said on Thursday in a ceremony where Oberbank and Iranian banks signed the finance agreement.

'By dint of the historical legacy, our countries have traditionally been each other's trusted partners,' he said, adding that the two countries have also taken long strides in post-nuclear-deal-era on the path of enhancing economic ties.

He described the latest agreement as 'another turning point' on the path, saying that the development will pave the way for making the relations closer and serve as the beginning point of a new chapter in promising cooperation between the two countries.

Iran's first finance agreement after the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world major powers in 2015 was signed in the Austrian city, Linz, on Thursday.

The one-billion-euro agreement envisions financing the infrastructure, industrial and manufacturing projects in Iran.

Earlier, South Korea and China had signed similar agreements with Iranian banks.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), under which Iran accepted to curb its nuclear activities in return of sanctions relief. An important part of the sanctions concerned banking issues.

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