Iran signs historic deal with Airbus with key ECA financing

(Trend News Agency, Baku, 30 January 2016) Over the past ten years and after the removal of crippling nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, Hassan Rouhani was the first Iranian president to visit Europe breaking the deadlock over ties between the Islamic Republic and its traditional trade partners. In addition to a raft of deals ranging from energy to industry and environment, Rouhani paved the way for signing a deal which surely opens a new chapter in the history of Iran’s aviation which has suffered from a worn-out fleet over the past decades claiming at least 1,168 lives between 1979 and 2014. After 21 years of embargo on Iran’s aviation, finally on January 28, Tehran signed a historic deal with Airbus for the purchase of 118 airliners (73 widebodies, 45 single aisle) including 12 A380 superjumbos worth $25 billion at list prices...  The airbus deal would not be inked if was not the financial contribution that Rouhani secured at the first stop of his Europe tour in Rome, where the Italian Export Credit Agency, SACE, and Iran’s Central Bank (CBI) signed a settlement agreement for the recovery of the sovereign credit due to SACE by Iranian counterparties.