Iran, Venezuela to launch joint bank

Iran and Venezuela will launch a joint bank to fund development projects, Iran's English-language Press TV said Wednesday, citing a Venezuelan minister. 'Iran and Venezuela have positive cooperation and are currently reviewing the launch of a joint bank after five meetings held on this issue so far,' Venezuelan Planning and Development Minister Haiman El-Troudi was quoted as saying. El-Troudi made the remarks on the sidelines at the 29th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OPEC Fund for International Development in Iran's central city of Isfahan. The new binational bank would be based in Tehran and have 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in start-up funds, El-Troudi said, adding the bank would finance projects in infrastructure, housing and technology. A sixth meeting to further assess the joint project will be held next year in Iran, he said, noting that the session will also cover separate memorandums of understanding to be signed between the two countries.