TEHRAN – Turkey has proposed establishing a joint bank with Iran for facilitating trade between the two countries, IRNA reported citing an article published in the Turkish newspaper “Dünya”.

“Establishing a joint bank through which the two sides could conduct bilateral trade and businesses without the need for U.S. dollar would be the final step for developing economic relations,” the Turkish Representative Chairman of Iran-Turkey Business Council, Ümit Kiler said on Saturday.

In his article, Kiler touched upon the remarks of the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) regarding the elimination of U.S. dollar from trade between the two countries, writing “on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting among Iran, Turkey and Russia, Abdul-Nasser Hemmati, the head of CBI, also stressed the importance of using national currencies in trade and eliminating the dollar”.

“In this line, an economic delegation comprising Turkish businessmen and managers of different economic sectors will travel to Iran in the next month to explore new ways of trade between the two countries and develop a roadmap for trade in the new post-sanctions era,” Kiler added.

Annual trade between Iran and Turkey currently stands at $11 billion, and the two countries have set a target of $30 billion for bilateral trade.

EF/MG