Domestic Economy
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Expanding Turkey Transport Ties

Expanding Turkey Transport Ties
Expanding Turkey Transport Ties

Based on recent agreements between Iran and Turkey during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's official visit to Tehran, Turkey can use three transit routes in Iran to carry out its foreign trade within the region, head of Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce, Jalal Ebrahimi, said on Friday.

Since Turkey’s traditional transit routes in Syria, Iraq and Egypt are now blocked owing to the security issues, Iran is the only remaining gateway for Turkey to do business in the region, he was quoted by IRNA as saying.

 

"Turkey can do business with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE through Iran’s four ports of Abadan, Bushehr, Lengeh and Bandar Abbas,” Ebrahimi explained noting that as of April 22 this year, 6,000 trailer trucks are expected to be dispatched through Iranian routes to the countries located off the Persian Gulf coasts.

“Energy and transit are the most important issues for President Erdogan. Iran is the only country that can facilitate Turkey’s access to South-East Asian countries,” the official added, saying that Iran’s supply of gas is of outmost importance for Turkey since it is desperately trying to replace its highly expensive petrol with natural gas.

“The volume of trade between the two courtiers can increase,” he said, responding to the question whether the recent agreements reached between Tehran and Ankara can increase trade volume between the two countries.

He went on to say that the recent agreements can help significantly reduce trafficking of goods between Iran and Turkey which annually amounts to $3.5 billion.  

President Erdogan was in Tehran on Tuesday last week at the head of a delegation comprising of high ranking Turkish officials including Foreign Minister Mouloud Jawish Ihsanoglu, Economy Minister Nehat Zibakch, Minister of Customs and Trade Nurettin Canikli, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Omer Celik, and Minister of Development, Cevdet Yilmaz.

The two sides discussed bilateral ties and exchanged views on regional and international developments, and signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on transportation, customs, banking and investment.

> Railway Trade, Cooperation

In another development, Iran and Turkey agreed to increase the volume of railway trade to 450,000 tons in 2015, and to 1 million tons by 2017.  

The Agreement was reached between Iran’s minister of road and urban development Abbas Akhoundi and his Turkish counterpart Cevdet Yilmaz.

 

The head of Iran’s Railway and his Turkish counterpart were also tasked to prepare the necessary plans for the expansion of railway cooperation between the two countries.

> SMEs Cooperation

During President Erdogan's visit Iran and Turkey also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday according to which Iranian and Turkish small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will expand cooperation in a bid to boost their competitive power in the global markets.

The contract was signed between the managing director of the Organization of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Townships, Mohammad-Ali Seyed Abrishami, and the head of Turkey's Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization Recep Bicer.

“Iran is ready to prepare the ground for presence of Turkish businesses in Iran’s industrial towns,” Abrishami said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of the deal.

He underlined growth in Iran-Turkey trade and said “both the Iranian and Turkish presidents agreed upon to increase the annual trade volume to $30 billion from the current $13billion,” Abrishami said, referring to growing trade ties between the two neighboring countries.

“Iran will make use of Turkey’s far-reaching experience in supporting small industrial units to develop its own infrastructure,” the Iranian official added.

He noted that the project to establish common border towns with Turkey has failed as it faced with problems such as lack of a clear legal regime and high energy prices.

“We are interested in Turkish advisors working  in Iran’s  technological towns and business service centers since we believe that joint cooperation between Iranian and Turkish advisors will ultimately benefit Iranian manufacturers,” Abrishami, who is also the deputy minister of mine, industry and trade, further underlined.

The head of Turkey's Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization Recep Bicer, said cooperation can boost exchange of experience between the two countries.

Bicer welcomed expansion of economic cooperation, saying: “We are ready to share experience with our Iranian partners.”

 

Financialtribune.com