Iran, Turkey discuss stronger economic ties
Ali-Naqi Khamoushi, heading an Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines' delegation, and Iran's Charge d'Affaires in Turkey Gholam-Reza Baqeri Moqaddam as well as a group of Iranian businessmen took part in the Fifth Joint Economic Conference in Istanbul.
A number of Turkish officials and traders including head of chambers of commerce and stock markets, and Turkish chairman of Iran-Turkey Joint Commercial Council as well as Turkish ambassador to Tehran also participated in the event.
Economic analysts in Ankara described the conference as very crucial given the participation of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines and the Union of Turkish Chambers and Stock Markets as the two great bodies active in the economic sector.
They hoped that the gathering will be fruitful for both sides, and the two countries can utilize the opportunity to improve bilateral commercial and economic ties.
According to the analysts, the upcoming visits to Turkey by Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki and the Majlis' Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel alongside today's conference can pave the way for bolstering official political and economic relations between the two neighboring countries.
The analysts said that the volume of commercial exchanges between Iran and Turkey has witnessed an eye-catching improvement in recent years thanks to the increase in fuel prices.
Iran is a major oil and gas supplier to Turkey, and Russia is considered the Islamic Republic's very important rival in this market in recent years.
Iran-Turkey trade exchanges stood at $6.68 billion in 2006, indicating a 52.45 percent increase compared to the figure for 2005.
Turkey's export to Iran reached $1.58 billion in 2006, showing a 15.9 percent increase compared to the figure for 2005. Iran's export to Turkey increased 62.1 percent to reach dlrs 5.62 billion in the same year.