TEHRAN – The value of trade between Iran and Turkey stood at $921 million during the first two months of 2023, down 11 percent from $1.038 billion in the first two months of 2022, according to the figures recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

Based on the mentioned data, Turkey’s export to Iran rose 1.5 percent to $471 million in the two-month period of this year, from $464 million in the same time span of the previous year.

Iran’s two-month export to Turkey fell 21 percent to $451 million from $574 million.

Based on the data previously released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the value of Iran’s exports to neighboring Turkey increased by 19 percent to reach $3.35 billion in 2022.

Turkey had imported over $2.82 billion worth of commodities from the Islamic Republic in 2021.

Based on the mentioned data, Iran’s imports from the country also marked a 11-percent rise to hit $3.07 billion in the past year, in comparison with 2021, when the figure was $2.77 billion.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the trade between the two countries has registered a 15-percent rise in 2022.

The value of trade between the two neighbors reached $6.42 billion in 2022, while the figure stood at $5.59 billion in the preceding year.

Iran's trade balance with Turkey has been $280 million positive in favor of Iran in the past year.

The latest data released by the European Union's statistics office Eurostat also indicates that Iran exported over nine billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to Turkey in 2022, which shows an eight percent drop from 10.288 bcm of export in 2021.

Last July, Iran and Turkey discussed ways of expanding economic relations along with political ties at the Turkish-Iranian High-Level Cooperation Council in Tehran.

During the meeting, which was co-chaired by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the two sides negotiated the extension of the gas export contract between the two sides for the next 25 years.

In the meeting, President Raisi noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to expand economic relations with neighboring countries.

The president also evaluated Tehran-Ankara ties as positive and progressive, saying that the two countries should pursue appropriate policies to move towards increasing their annual trade exchanges to $30 billion.

On the sidelines of the mentioned meeting, Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian also held talks with Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez in which the two sides exchanged views on cooperation in energy fields.

Later on, Head of Turkey’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB) Hasan Basri Kurt met with Head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) Ali Rasoulian to discuss ways of expanding cooperation between the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the two countries.

In this meeting Rasoulian referred to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries on cooperation between SMEs, saying: “President Raisi has emphasized setting up joint industrial parks in the country’s special economic zones, considering the good infrastructure for setting up such parks in the free and special economic zones and the active presence of economic enterprises in these areas.”

MA