Minister of Foreign Trade Kürşad Tüzmen has said Turkey's commercial relations with Iran should remain strong and that Turkey is committed to improving them further, independent of the restrictions of UN Security Council sanctions, which were imposed on Iran due to its ongoing nuclear projects.
Tüzmen was speaking to reporters at Istanbul Atatürk Airport on Tuesday, prior to departing for Iran with a delegation of 100 representatives from the public and private sectors. The two-day trip is an opportunity to better evaluate economic and commercial relations, look for new areas of cooperation and develop new relations, the minister said, adding that Turkey needs to develop its normal relations with Iran independent of the restrictions of the UN Security Council sanctions.
Tüzmen said he would meet with Iran's commerce, oil, transportation and foreign ministers during his trip and added he would also chair the Turkey-Iran Commercial and Economic Cooperation Seminar with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Mirkazemi.
Tüzmen touched upon the developments in trade between the two countries and said while the trade volume between Iran and Turkey was $1.3 billion in 2002, this figure had increased to $8.1 billion in 2007. "In 2007, Turkey's export volume to Iran was $1.4 billion, and this number is already at $618 million in the first four months of 2008. So I think this year our export volume to Iran will exceed $2 billion."
The foreign trade minister also commented on investment developments in Iran and said that Gübretaş, a state-owned fertilizer company, had recently purchased Iran's biggest fertilizer production complex, Razi Petrochemical Company, paying $681 million to Iran's privatization administration.
Tüzmen said Turkish construction companies had also entered the Iranian market in recent years and added that the size of this business would reach a few billion dollars in the near future. Minister Tüzmen also said there have been important developments in the energy market in Iran such as the transportation of Turkmen gas to Turkey via Iran and Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) will also develop the 22nd, 23rd and 24th phases of Iran's South Pars natural gas field.
According to Tüzmen, after the mutual negotiations the two countries will establish a preferential trade system, reciprocally decrease customs tariffs and discuss topics including problems that Turkish businessmen encounter when exporting their goods to Iran. The other topics on Tüzmen's agenda are the financing of bilateral trade, export loan and insurance programs, diversifying and increasing the quotas of border trade goods, running border gates more efficiently, efficient utilization of railways between the two countries, developing airway transportation between them and increasing trade in electricity and oil products.
