Turkish Economy Minister in Tehran

Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci met with top Iranian officials in Tehran on Saturday.

In his meeting with First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Zeybekci called on the two sides to boost cooperation in the industrial, mining and agricultural sectors.

Jahangiri expressed Iran’s willingness to improve economic ties with Turkey, saying almost a year since the unraveling of nuclear sanctions against Iran, banking relations between Iran and Turkey have yet to return to normalcy.

“This makes it difficult for the two sides to reach the $30-billion trade goal,” he was quoted as saying by ILNA. Zeybekci also met with Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi who co-chairs Iran-Turkey Economic Commission. The Preferential Tariff Agreement between Iran and Turkey was the main topic discussed in their meetings. Prior to his arrival in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking trade delegation on Friday, the Turkish minister said he would discuss the possibility of including more items in the list of commodities traded at preferential tariff rates with his Iranian counterpart.

Based on the PTA signed by Iran’s Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh and Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on December 31, 2014, tariffs on 125 Iranian goods were lowered in Turkey’s favor and those of 140 Turkish goods were reduced in favor of Iran.