Senior Iranian and Turkish foreign ministry officials have stressed the need for the two neighboring countries to expand bilateral exchanges to an annual $30 billion.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz, in a meeting in Tehran on Sunday, discussed an array of economic and trade issues between Iran and Turkey, including banking and customs arrangements, better transit initiatives that could facilitate trade between and via the two countries, joint investment projects and increased cooperation on natural gas and electricity projects.
Safari pointed to problems facing trucks at Bazargan border crossing between Iran and Turkey, underlining the need for more coordination between customs officers and managers on the two sides of the border.
The Turkish official, for his part, said that Iran and Turkey should hold a new session of the intergovernmental economic committee between the two countries to explore ways of expanding bilateral economic and trade ties.
Turkey is presently Iran’s third biggest trade partner, accounting for 24% of Iran’s trade exchanges.