Tehran, Ankara plan to increase annual trade to $30 bln

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran and Turkey plan to increase annual trade to $30 billion. Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi and Turkish Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz co-chaired the 24th joint economic committee meeting of Iran and Turkey in Tehran today, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on April 15. The two sides are expected to sign an agreement at the end of the meeting, which is aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation in the fields of customs, energy, agriculture, environment protection, and transportation. Yilmaz arrived in Tehran today at the head of a 100-member delegation of Turkish tradesmen and investors. This is the first time that a high-ranking Turkish trade delegation will pay an official visit to Iran after Tehran and Ankara signed a "preferential trade agreement" in late January in Tehran during Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's trip. Iran and Turkey signed several documents on economic, cultural, political, trade, banking, customs and cinematic cooperation during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Iran. During his official two-day stay in Tehran, Erdogan sat down with senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, where the Turkish premier underlined Ankara's resolve to bring its economic transactions with Iran to USD30 billion by 2015. The Iranian president said that Tehran and Ankara can expand mutual relations in all economic sectors, including the construction of power plants and refineries as well as industrial, oil and gas cooperation. He also called for boosting ties between the private sectors of the two countries in an effort to improve economic cooperation. Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency