Turkish President Due in Iran Next Month
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that the president of the country plans to pay an official visit to Tehran next month to explore avenues for the expansion of bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif here in Tehran on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make a trip to the Iranian capital in January 2015.
Pointing to the value of bilateral trade between the two countries, the Turkish official said Tehran-Ankara trade ties have witnessed a slight decrease over the past year, but at the same time noted that leaders of the two countries are "seeking to boost the volume of annual trade to 30 billion dollars."
Cavusoglu also voiced his country’s determination to remove obstacles in the way to boost economic cooperation between Iran and Turkey.
The Iranian foreign minister, for his part, hailed close bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries, and said, “We have been enjoying very good and extensive ties with Turkey as a good neighbor (of Iran).”
Iran, which owns the world’s largest natural gas reserves, is Turkey’s second biggest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.
Turkish exports to Iran are mainly machinery, motor vehicles, iron and steel products, boilers, electric devices, tobacco products. Crude oil and natural gas dominate Iranian exports to Turkey with 90%.
