Ammon News - Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) Adel Sharkas on Sunday discussed with Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq ways to enhance cooperation and improve banking and financial relations.

Sharkas and Al-Alaq tackled banking issues of mutual interest, developments in the tasks and work of central banks, and developments in global monetary policies and their trends in light of the current stage that is still witnessing inflationary pressures that have led to the continuation of tight monetary policies by many central banks in the world.

During the meeting, Sharkas and Al-Alaq focused on the importance of joint work and cooperation in the financial and banking sector to serve a current trend to expand the horizons of economic cooperation between Jordan and Iraq.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Sharkas and Al-Alaq signed a joint cooperation and coordination agreement, with the aim of strengthening and expanding cooperation in the financial and banking fields and outlining mechanisms to enhance cooperation and exchange information and expertise in many fields, including supervision and control of electronic payment systems and services, and modern financial technology (FinTech), innovation, cybersecurity, combating money laundering and terrorist financing, exchanging skills and training staff and banking supervision.

Sharkas underlined the importance of the agreement at a time when economic relations between the two countries are witnessing continuous progress under the patronage of the two countries' leaders, noting that financial and banking cooperation is an important aspect in developing this relationship.

He voiced the CBJ's commitment to enhancing financial and banking cooperation and coordination with its Iraqi counterpart, especially through this agreement, which aims to expand joint cooperation that was first laid out under a 2015 memorandum of understanding on banking supervision.

He also pointed out that Jordanian banks are looking to establish a presence in the Iraqi market, adding that four branches of Jordanian banks have obtained a license to operate in Iraq with a capital of $50 million for each branch, including two branches that are already operational in Iraq.

For his part, Al-Alaq stressed that the CBI is looking to bolster and establish strong banking relations with its Jordanian counterpart, noting that the agreement signed highlights joint commitment to move ties forward.

He lauded the development witnessed in the historical Jordanian-Iraqi relations in all fields, stressing that the CBI's commitment to benefit from Jordanian experience in the fields of digitization, financial innovations and payment systems.

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