Turkey, Iran seek to build stronger cooperation in agriculture

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Ankara and Tehran seek to up level of the bilateral ties, and also increase the trade volume through cooperation in the agriculture sphere.

Turkey's Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Faruk Celik believes that Turkey and Iran should build on their shared $100-billion agricultural output.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Ankara alongside Iranian Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati, Turkey's Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock emphasized potential opportunities offered by the agricultural trade.

"We have decided to enhance collaboration in the agriculture sector to increase the trade volume between Turkey and Iran to $30 billion," said Celik.

Celik is sure that there is more potential for businesses as the total population of Turkey and Iran is around 160 million.

"For Turkey, Iran is a gate opening to Asia, and for Iran, Turkey is a gate opening to Europe. Considering the regional conflicts, we should focus on how to improve this potential together instead of concerning [ourselves with] unessential issues," Celik said.

Celik further added that transportation problems in the agricultural trade were also discussed during Wednesday’s meeting, noting that the two countries will share their own experiences for modernization of the agriculture sector.

"Our region is in a ring of fire. If only we talked about agriculture in Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul, instead of terror… The unity of the Muslim world is essential," the Turkish minister added.

Hojjati, for his part, reminded that Turkey and Iran had been collaborating on political and economic areas as two friendly countries.

"Turkey gave significant support to us during the embargo period, hence we are always grateful to Turkey," said Hojjati.

"Similarly, Iranian officials did not sleep a wink when that treacherous coup bid was performed against Turkey, and they announced support for Turkey," Hojjati added.

The Iranian minister further said Turkey and Iran had the potential to complement each other in terms of agricultural trade, and added: "We will try to seize this potential."

Hojjati also said businesspeople from both countries during this week’s visit had made very fruitful talks and wanted to lead permanent collaboration.

Commenting on regional conflicts, Hojjati said: "Making violence, which does not accord with Islam, in the name of Islam is worrying. Islam is a religion of mercy that promotes toleration and unity.

The 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.

Iran and Turkey are very close trade and economic partners. Both countries are part of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

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

Moreover, Iran and Turkey have extensive tourism relations for years. Turkey receives one million Iranian tourists each year and economically benefits from Iranian tourism. As of 2013, tourists from Turkey comprise one of the largest that visit Iran, making up 391,283 registered tourists.