Tehran, Iran, May 24
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently negotiating with Iranian officials to boost the two countries' bilateral trade.
The two sides are optimistic about a significant rise in their bilateral trade, Iran's Mehr News Agency quoted Yahya Ale-Eshaq, Chairman of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture as saying on May 24
"Turkey is a good partner for Iran," he said.
He went on to note that Iran and Turkey are able to find solutions to such problems as the sanctions on Iran's banking sector.
Tehran and Ankara are determined to increase their bilateral trade in different fields, including economy, energy, tourism, and culture.
The two countries intend to increase their trade volume to $30 billion by 2015.
Tehran and Ankara signed a "preferential trade agreement" in late January in Tehran during Turkish prime minister's visit.
Iran and Turkey also signed several documents on economic, cultural, political, trade, banking, customs and cinematic cooperation during Erdogan's visit to Iran.
During his official two-day visit to Tehran, Erdogan met with senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, during which he emphasized Ankara's resolve to bring its economic transactions with Iran to $30 billion by 2015.
The Iranian president said that Tehran and Ankara can expand mutual relations in all economic sectors, including the construction of power plants and refineries, as well as industrial, oil and gas cooperation.
He also called for boosting ties between the private sectors of the two countries in an effort to improve economic cooperation.
Erdogan has officially invited Rouhani to visit Ankara.
Turkey imported 180,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran in 2011, however, the figure dropped to 105,000 barrels per day in 2013 due to the U.S.-led sanctions against Iran's oil and gas sector.
The two countries' trade turnover stood at $13.5 billion in 2013, according to IRNA. Iran's oil and gas exports accounted for $7.6 billion of the mentioned amount, while Turkey's exports to Iran were a little more than $4 billion.
Iran and Turkey eye to increase their bilateral trade to $100 billion in nine years.
The trade turnover between the two countries was around $22 billion in 2012.
The two countries have always stressed that their short-term annual trade target should be about $30-35 billion.