Turkish Businesspeople Calls For Improved Ties With Iran

May 28, 2001 - 0:0
ANKARA Deputy for the Turkish Union of Chambers and Exchange Offices (TOBB) and head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of the Trabzon Province on Saturday called for improved ties with Iran.

According to the Anatolian News Agency, Ali Osman Ulusoy told reporters in Ankara that the relations between Iran and Turkey have remarkably improved over the recent months. He said Ankara attaches great importance to its relations with Iran.

He called upon the Turkish businesspeople to look closely at Iran's potential in the economic and trade field. He said a delegation composed of the Turkish businesspeople is to visit Iran in the near future.

He said improve ties between Turkey's northern provinces including the Trabzon Province and Iran would contribute to the prosperity of the northern Turkey.

The Turkish Union of Chambers and Exchange Offices is the biggest nongovernmental body comprising more than 300 exchange offices.

Turkish Governor General of Trabzon, Adil Yazar discussed May 12 with his counterpart in northwestern Iranian Province of East Azarbaijan Yahya Mohammadzadeh on ways of boosting the trade ties between the two countries.

Referring to the capacities and potentials of Turkey as a whole and those of Trabzon Province, Mohammadzadeh said that the Islamic Republic of Iran attaches great importance to upgrading of ties with neighboring Turkey.

The Iranian governor general also called for promotion of existing ties between the two provinces of East Azarbaijan and Trabzon.

Yazar said that any expansion in relations between the two provinces will certainly lead to promotion of overall ties between the two neighboring countries. Yazar was heading a 35-man delegation of Turkish merchants and industrialists in his Iran visit.

Trabzon, a province bordering the Black Sea, plays a strategic role in Turkey's economic and commercial exchanges with other countries.

Exchange visits by various economic, commercial and cultural delegations between the two Iranian and Turkish provinces in the past two years have further paved the ground for enhancing mutual cooperation.

On may 13, Yazar and Mohammadzadeh of Iran inked a protocol to boost the bilateral relations in the economic, cultural, scientific and tourist fields. The 10-point protocol stressed expanding of the bilateral operation between Iran's Eastern Azarbaijan and Turkey's Trabzon Province, setting up of the trade and tourism exhibition, transit of goods and passengers, establishment of the commerce chambers in the cities of Tabriz and Trabzon.

The two sides are decided to introduce the economic potentials and tourist resorts of each other to both nations through various activities including preparing and screening films in this regard in Iran and in Turkey.

The two sides also stressed exchange of the cultural, scientific, artistic and sport delegations as well as the bilateral cooperation in the customs area. The Turkish side pledged to provide access to provide facilities for the Iranian lorries to get access to Russia through the Trabzon port.

This year Iran is to set up a special exhibition in Trabzon and Turkey would also organize an exhibition in Tabriz next August.