Iran, Turkey keen to broaden economic cooperation

Iran's Ambassador to Turkey Alireza Bigdeli underscored that Tehran and Ankara are resolved to pursue seriously their common goal of boosting annual bilateral trade up to $30bln by the next year. Bigdeli said that the 24th joint Iran-Turkey Economic Commission Meeting is slated to kick off in Tehran with expert meeting on Monday to pave the ground for materialization of the two countries' common economic goals. The meeting of representatives of ministries and economic organizations of the two countries will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday after a review of cooperation over last year. They will also prepare the economic programs of the two countries for the next year within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The official went on to say that Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi, who is also the head of Iran-Turkey Joint Commission, and Turkish Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz and the head of Turkey-Iran Joint Commission are scheduled to sign the MoU. A report on Sunday said that Yilmaz will arrive in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss bilateral ties with Iranian officials. Yilmaz will head a 100-member high-ranking delegation and is slated to meet with Vaezi and other senior Iranian officials during his stay in Tehran. Yilmaz and Vaezi are also scheduled to attend the 24th meeting of Iran-Turkey joint commission to follow up on Tehran-Ankara trade and economic relations. Yilmaz's visit to Iran will take place at the invitation of Vaezi. Before his departure to Tehran, the Turkish development minister praised his country's trade ties with Iran, and said Ankara is determined to broaden its trade and economic relations with Tehran. Iran and Turkey increased their trade transactions in the first two months of 2014 as compared with the figures of the corresponding period in the last year. The value of trade transactions between Tehran and Ankara hit $2.115bln in January and February, the trade data recently released by the Turkish government said. Iran and Turkey have in recent years increased their cooperation in all the various fields of economy, security, trade, education, energy and culture. The two sides have exchanged several politico-economic delegations during the last few months. Last month, Vaezi in a meeting with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Feridun H. Sinirlioglu underlined the necessity for the two neighboring countries to boost their trade exchanges to $30bln by 2015. "The two countries aim to reach the volume of $30bln in their trade and commercial relations by 2015 and we seek to attain this goal through planning and by removing possible obstacles," Vaezi said during the meeting in Tehran in March. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a high-ranking political-economic delegation made a visit to Tehran in January. During the visit, Erdogan underlined his country’s enthusiasm for starting a new chapter in the relations with Tehran, and said Turkey is in dire need of Iran’s energy resources. “We import oil and natural gas from Iran and those are strategic products that Turkey imports from Iran and we can receive them more (than before),” Erdogan told reporters in Tehran after inking several documents on cooperation with Iran. “Given the fact that Turkey’s industries are making progress on a daily basis and rapidly, we direly need energy products, specially Iran’s natural gas, and we should take joint win-win steps,” he added. Erdogan also called for the further expansion of bilateral economic ties with Tehran, and said there is a political resolve in Iran and Turkey to increase the level of their trade exchanges to $30bln in 2015.