TEHRAN – Iran’s capital Tehran is going to host the next meeting of the Iran-Turkey Joint Economic Committee on December 9, an official with the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Seyyed Rasoul Mohajer made the remarks in an interview with IRIB on Sunday on the sidelines of a Meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Coordination Council.

Emphasizing that Turkey is a very important trade partner for Iran, he added that trade between Iran and its neighbor exceeds $12 billion annually.

"Unfortunately, a meeting of the joint commission between Iran and Turkey has not been held in the past three years. So, it was decided at a meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Coordination Council that this commission meeting would be held in Tehran on December 10," he said.

"In the next meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Coordination Council, the issue of Iran's joint commissions with Sudan and Yemen will be discussed," Mohajer said.

The value of non-oil trade between Iran and Turkey stood at $9.9 billion in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), the former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Mohammad Rezvanifar said that Turkey was the second top trade partner of Iran among its neighbors in the seven-month period.

As previously announced, Iran exported non-oil goods worth $2.4 billion to Turkey in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20 - September 22).

Turkey was the fourth export destination of Iran among its other neighbors during the six-month period.

Iran also imported commodities worth $5.1 billion from Turkey, which made the country the third source of import for Iran in the first half of the year.

EF/