From now on the Federal Government will secure the export business of German companies in Iran with state guarantees again. On 20 June 2016, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy announced that Iran had paid the outstanding debts resulting from Hermes guarantees from before the time of the financial sanctions. A prerequisite for granting of the guarantees is the submission of securities of Iran's Ministry of Finance or of the central bank. (Further information in German: [here](http://www.agaportal.de/pages/portal/aga-report/ar266_iran.html "Öffnet externen Link in neuem Fenster").)

The settlement of old debts involved a sum of over 500 million euros, which the Iranian government owed to the Federal Government. The Federal Government stopped issuing export credit guarantees for Iran within the scope of EU economic and financial sanctions six years ago. Since the Implementation Day on January 16, and the associated partial lifting of sanctions, Hermes guarantees are generally enabled again. Companies have again been able to apply for export credit guarantees again already since January, but these have not been granted yet.

Government-backed Hermes guarantees represent an important factor for German companies operating abroad. They safeguard against non-payment caused by economic and political reasons. BDI welcomes the agreement. Without the export credit guarantees, only a few companies would enter the Iranian market. From the perspective of BDI, the resumption of Hermes guarantees is the first important step towards a normalization of payment transactions between Iran and Germany.