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Meeting All Obligations
"My personal experience from having dealt with Iran
and with the Iranian banks over many many years have led me to believe that Iranians meet
all of their obligations. They have done so in the past through very difficult times and
they would do so again,” says David Robbie, head of Trade Finance Division at the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).
Having managed CIBC’s operations in the
Middle East and Asia for several years, he believes that personal interaction between
peoples is one of the most important steps toward international cooperation.
In a recent visit to Iran, a country he has been dealing with since 1979, David Robbie
answered the questions of Iran International with the experience and vision of the vice
president of a bank which is as old as Canada.
| Personal interaction between the peoples is really the most
important part of doing business and the most important part for relationships between
nations |
Beginning in about 1991 we resumed travelling
to Iran to meet with the commercial banks, with the Central Bank, and over time with some
of the key companies that are involved in doing business with Canadian firms. The whole
intent was to build relationships with the decision-makers in the Central Bank, the
commercial banks and the buyers to emphasize that Canadian companies were good and
reliable companies to do business, and that CIBC was entrusted in facilitating trade. Of
course, during 1993 and 1994 there were delays in payments under letters of credit because
there had been a large growth in the level of activities and the issuance of letters of
credit without the sufficient control being exercised. But the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)
did a very good job of understanding the full extent of the problem and then working with
commercial banks to begin to restructure the payments under those letters of credit. So we
continued to do business throughout all of that period.
In 1996, the CIBC-CBI negotiations led to putting in place of facilities for Iranian banks
and since that time, we have financed hundreds of millions of dollars of Canadian imports
to Iran. That has been a good business for CIBC. It supported Canadian business, and we
believe it has also supported the aims of Iran in terms of being able to bring in wheat,
machinery, pharmaceutical goods, services and telecommunications among others.
Base for Business: We enjoy a very good relationship in Iran
because we have been working with the same people for almost ten years and we are
well-received. It has been a strong relationship, a positive one. Generally speaking, the
more business that you do between parties, the more business you want to do because you
feel comfortable with them, you trust them. I think that our relationships have been good
and just continue to be.
Personal interaction between the peoples wherever
they may come from or where they may be going is really the most important part of doing
business and the most important part for relationships between nations.
Growing Business: I think that there is a growing interest
or re-establishment of interest in the country. I think to ensure that there is
commitment, you need to build relationships through regular visits over years. I think
there is more interest in doing business with Iran. I would hope that the growing interest
in doing business with Iran is not solely because of the rise in the price of oil, because
the price of oil would go up, and it would go down. It has done over the 1990s and we have
to understand that there are going to be times when you have lots of money in your pockets
and other times when you haven’t got so much.
Future Business: Our goal is to try to continue to encourage trade between Canada and Iran, to
work with companies in Canada to let them know more about doing business with Iran. CIBC
would give them assurances around their ability to receive prompt payment for whatever it
is that they do, and will encourage Canadian companies who may not have thought of doing
business with Iran to do so. |
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