Iran-Turkey trade can reach $100bn per year: Iran envoy

Iran’s Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour

Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:5AM GMT

Iran’s Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour says the volume of trade transactions between Tehran and Ankara can reach as high as USD 100 billion per year.

Explaining the upward trend in the bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey over the past years, Hosseinpour said the many capacities of the two countries can be further explored to boost the trade transactions to USD 100 billion per year.

“For the first time, the value of trade between Iran and Turkey will exceed USD 21 billion this [Iranian calendar] year (started March 20, 2012),” Hosseinpour said on Monday.

The value of the Iran-Turkey trade surpassed USD 16 billion in 2011. The two countries plan to increase the level of their bilateral trade volume to USD 30 billion by 2015.

Commenting on the US-led sanctions against Iran, Hosseinpour said, “There is no doubt that Western governments, particularly the US, are exerting pressure on Turkey to decrease its trade ties with Iran and these pressures are continuing.”

He added, however, that “despite the West’s and the US’s pressure on Turkey, we have succeeded to come up with ways to increase the [bilateral] trade volume.”

The illegal US-engineered sanctions have been imposed on Iran based on the unfounded allegation that the Islamic Republic is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

YH/HMV/HJL

via PressTV – Iran-Turkey trade can reach $100bn per year: Iran envoy.