Iran's West Azarbaijan province and five Turkish provinces signed a trade and economic memorandum of understanding here on Thursday.
West Azarbaijan's Governor General Vahid Jalalzadeh and Hakkari Province's Governor Muammar Turker, as representative of his province along with five other Turkish border provinces' officials, inked the MoU, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Border trades, custom affairs, bank affairs, standards, tourism, scientific, educational, cultural, and sport cooperation were among the items of the signed MoU.
An official of the Turkish prime minister's office for foreign trade previously stated that in the first half of 2010 trade between Iran and Turkey reached $5.4 billion.
Yusuf Turkoglu added that the Islamic Republic plays a significant role in the region and we pursue extended relations with Tehran.
He pointed out that currently 1,300 Iranian firms are operating in Turkey and business between the two neighbors is growing.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in September that Turkey plans to triple trade with Iran in the next five years.
"When we remove trade barriers and complete our preferential trade agreement we can reach a bilateral trade volume of $30b in five years," Erdogan told businessmen at a summit aimed at lowering tariffs between the two countries.
Samet Inanir, an adviser at the trade relations board DEIK, said in regard to the $30 billion trade target: "We should consider Turkey and Iran as if they were France and Germany."
Many Turkish companies say that prohibitively high tariffs and barriers to investment are bigger obstacles to doing business in Iran compared to sanctions.
"I promise the obstacles for Turk merchants will be lifted," said Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi on the sidelines of a meeting with the Turkish prime minister.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has voiced Ankara's determination to boost trade ties with Iran, despite the U.S. pressure to halt trade with the Islamic Republic. Addressing the Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gul urged the Turkish businessmen to improve the country's trade with Iran.
"Those who do not know may be annoyed by our trade ties with Iran, but Turkey-Iran trade is important to us," Turkey's Zaman newspaper quoted Gul as saying in the northeastern city on Tuesday.