TEHRAN Branches of Bank Melli of Iran in Hamburg, London and Dubai are now authorized to offer hard currency credits to purchasers of Iran's non-oil exports, reported the bank's public relations department here Wednesday.

It added that the above-mentioned branches, using their own resources and after receiving a letter of guarantee from export guarantee fund of Iran, will offer hard currency to foreign buyers of Iran's engineering and technical services and other non-oil exports.

It added that the foreign buyers should provide the identity of the Iranian exporter, adding that the currency will be offered according to local banking regulations.

The bank also said that Iranian exporters should identify their business partners to the branches, adding that at least 70 percent of the total value of engineering and technical services should be produced by Iranian professionals.

Earlier in January Managing Director for Industrial Export at the Ministry of Industries and Mines Ahmad Qasemi said providing long- and short-term credit to buyers of Iranian products, promoting exports-based organizations and eliminating hard currency guarantees for exports are effective means of boosting exports of industrial goods.

He said setting up a rial based export fund to compensate for any losses suffered by exporters due to reduction of hard currency rates, expansion of banking network in lucrative markets in Central Asia and Africa, attention to packaging of goods and implementing stable laws and regulations for non-oil exports, include other measures envisioned by the ministry.