Tehran, April 28: Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi reiterates the need to accelerate the implementation of Iran-Turkey bilateral agreements.
In a meeting with Turkey’s State Minister Hayati Yazici on Wednesday, Rahimi expressed Iran’s readiness to implement preferential trade programs between the two countries.
Referring to the vast capacities of Iran and Turkey in various fields, Rahimi said, “The activation of these capacities will benefit both countries,” IRNA reported.
Rahimi described transportation as one of the great capacities of Iran and Turkey and said that joining the railways of the two countries would lead to a great transformation in this field.
Yazici, for his part, said Iranian and Turkish efforts to implement bilateral ties were of high importance and require coordination between the two countries.
The trade volume between Iran and Turkey has reportedly increased by more than 70 percent, surpassing USD 2.144 billion in the first two months of 2011.
According to a report released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the volume of trade between the two neighboring states reached USD 963.559 million in February, showing a near 44-percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey has surged in recent years, reaching USD 10 billion in 2010, compared with a figure of USD 1 billion in 2000.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in mid-February, expressed the Islamic Republic’s firm determination to boost the volume of annual trade with Turkey to USD 30 billion.
——–Agencies