Page 12 - MEOG Week 14 2021

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

POLICY West.” Iran’s foreign policy should be balanced portfolio. The portfolio gained 488 per cent
and engaged with the whole world he said. after netting $46m in capital gains last year.
Zarif appears on Clubhouse discussions in virtual “rooms” on Clubhouse grew 6 per cent, while the treasury and capital
In recent weeks, Iranians have joined
The lender’s corporate banking portfolio
to defend, play down deal about issues including the country’s June markets portfolio expanded 13 per cent year-
presidential election.
on-year.
with China BNE projects in post-conflict countries such as
Apicorp is in the process of identifying
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Iraq and Libya, and will increasingly focus on
Zarif at the end of last week defended but COMPANIES environmental, social and governance norms
played down the importance of Iran’s lately when investing in new projects.
announced 25-year strategic deal with China Apicorp considers nearly In Iraq, the bank is in discussions with
during an appearance on Clubhouse, the new “various stakeholders - government and the
audio-based social media app. $2bn of disbursements private sector and other multilateral financial
Critics have complained that the agreement institutions to support Iraq, particularly in the
lacks transparency—a big concern being it is The Arab Petroleum Investments renewable energy space and of course in the
not clear what Iran would agree to beyound Corporation (Apicorp) will look at supporting mainstream petroleum industries,” said Mr
discounted oil in order to trigger hundreds clients in the energy sector to tide over the Attiga.
of billions of dollars of Chinese investment— difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic, with The company will increasingly focus on
and RFE/RL has reported small scattered disbursements of up to $2 billion this year. increasing renewable capacities within its
protests against the deal in Iranian cities, with Last year, the multilateral lender, which is portfolio, which accounts for 20 per cent of
demonstrators wary of Iran “selling out to owned by the 10 members of the Organisation clean power projects.
China”. of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, Last year, around 65 per cent of Apicorp’s
Zarif said on Clubhouse that he was in rolled out a $500m counter cyclical package project finance was directed towards green
discussions with Chinese officials to release to support sustainable projects in the energy projects, said Mr Attiga.
details about the agreement. He described conventional and renewables space. The company, which was set up by oil
the deal as simply a road map for relations “Normally our annual both debt and producers, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait,
between Tehran and Beijing. equity financing for new commitments is in Libya, Iraq, Qatar, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt and
He added that there were still “barriers” the range of, I would say $1.7-2bn US dollars Syria, will continue its focus on petroleum
that make it hard for Iran to “look to the to new projects, be it financed through debt investments, but will demand greater
East” and expand ties with China and various or financed through equity to public and to sustainability in return.
other countries. One obstacle, he said, was private sectors sponsors,” Ahmed Ali Attiga, “Conventional investments and projects
the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an Apicorp chief executive said in an interview have to start incorporating much stronger
international financial crime watchdog that with The National. ESG standards, both as a condition for the
Iran has long failed to comply with. The Dammam-based lender reported a 3 financing and then, as monitoring of the asset
With Iran and the US still weighing up per cent rise in net income for 2020, it said in itself and how ESG standards are applied,” said
whether they can make an agreement to revive a statement on Tuesday. Mr Attiga.
the 2015 nuclear deal that would reinvigorate Net income rose to $115 million from the Global wealth managers have shifted focus
Iranian trade and investment ties with the year-earlier period. Apicorp’s performance towards greater sustainability in investing,
West, Zarif also remarked: “I don’t believe was supported by significant capital gains with BlackRock, the world’s largest investment
in the [policy] of looking to the East or the from its treasury and capital markets firm incorporating climate change standards

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 14 07•April•2021