Iranian FM to visit Turkey Saturday

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is slated to pay an official visit to Turkey on Saturday to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu. Zarif will lead a high-ranking delegation during his one-day visit to Ankara. The Iranian foreign minister will discuss bilateral ties and regional developments during his stay in Turkey. Last month, the Turkish foreign minister underlined the need for the further expansion of ties with Iran. “Turkey enjoys very good and brotherly relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we intend to further enhance our interactions in the future,” Davutoglu said after meeting Zarif on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation in Islamabad on Thursday. Iran and Turkey have been expanding their bilateral relations, especially in trade and energy fields throughout the last decade. Trade between Turkey and Iran has risen sharply over the past decade. Iran-Turkey trade value exceeded $22bln in 2012. Also, Turkey was Iran's fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, buying around 200,000 barrels per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran's oil exports. The two countries officials stressed the necessity for stronger relations and pursuing the planned increase of mutual trade to $30bln by 2015.