Iran, Turkey trade balance exceeds $2.1bn in 2 months

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 $2.115 billion in January and February, the trade data recently released by the Turkish government said. Meantime, the data showed that the value of trade transactions between Iran and Turkey surpassed $24.5 bln in 2013. Last month, Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud 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. He said that Tehran and Ankara would have a meeting of their Joint Economic Cooperation Commission in Iran in April. Vaezi added that the Iranian government is eager to improve its economic, energy, cultural, industrial and tourism cooperation with all neighbors, specially Turkey. Sinirlioglu, for his part, stressed the Turkish government’s determination to further develop cooperation and relations with Iran, and said, “Iran that has giant oil and gas reserves will be among Turkey’s most vital energy suppliers in the next decade.” 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. 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.