Tehran, Ankara agree to expand cooperation

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Tehran and Ankara will continue cooperation in all spheres, said Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

He made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on August 12, TRT Haber news channel reports.

Zarif spoke about Iran’s interest in increasing supplies of natural gas and electricity to Turkey.

He said there can be disagreements between Iran and Turkey on a number of issues, ‘but they won’t affect the development of bilateral relations’.

In turn, Cavusoglu said that Turkey and Iran have discussed a number of important energy issues, including a discount on Iranian gas supplied to Turkey.

“We plan to increase bilateral trade turnover to $ 30 billion,” he said, adding that Iran is an important strategic partner for Turkey.

The future perspectives of cooperation over the Syrian conflict resolution also were among the discussed topics.  

“Turkey and Iran support Syria’s territorial integrity,” the Iranian FM said.

In addition, he stressed that Iran also welcomes the normalization of relations between Moscow and Ankara.

Moreover, Zarif said that Iran is ready to resume the flow of tourists to Turkey after the failed military coup attempt in the country.

“The attempt of a military coup had little effect on the flow of tourists from Iran to Turkey”, he said.

Turkish-Iranian bilateral relations are evolving on the basis of the principles of non-interference in domestic affairs, mutual respect and good neighborliness. Efforts are made to further enhance the political dialogue both on bilateral and regional issues, through reciprocal visits and mechanisms such as High Level Cooperation Council and joint commissions in different sectors.

Trade turnover between Turkey and Iran amounted to $2.9 billion in 1Q 2016. The figure was $9.76 billion in 2015.