Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5
Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:
The heads of Iran-Turkey Joint Commission have called for the expansion of bilateral ties between Tehran and Ankara saying differences over regional developments cannot harm friendly ties between two neighboring countries.
"Both sides call for the expansion of bilateral ties," IRNA news agency quoted Iran's Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi who is also head of Iran-Turkey Joint Commission as saying at a meeting with Turkish Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz and Turkish head of the commission in Tehran.
The meeting between the heads of the joint-commission took place as part of the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's official visit to Tehran aimed at maintaining bilateral ties.
"Two neighboring countries of Iran and Turkey should keep the ties in the highest levels and prevent the political developments from harming the existing ties," Vaezi added.
Speaking about the necessity for mutual cooperation in tourism, customs, energy, banking and other sectors, Vaezi said that both countries should maintain their relations and support existing infrastructure and capacities.
In turn, describing ties between Iran and Turkey as deep, Cevdet Yilmaz said the temporary developments are not capable of having negative impact on the bonds.
A Turkish high-ranking economic and politic delegation headed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, last night.
Commentators believe the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's ongoing visit to Tehran is aimed at maintaining and continuing trade ties between Tehran and Ankara.
Despite the outstanding disagreements between Tehran and Ankara over gas prices as well as differences over the Syrian crisis, Iran and Turkey appear reluctant to spoil the trade ties.
The trade turnover between the countries was $13.71 billion in 2014 and $9.76 billion in 2015.
Although the trade turnover dropped by 29 percent in 2015 compared to the preceding year, many observers believe that the decline came amid global economic crisis ruling out the role of the political and economic disagreements in the decline.
Over the past five and following the Syrian crisis, Tehran and Moscow have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey is among Syrian president's most outspoken critics.