Iran resolute to boost ties with Turkey

 The Iranian official made the remark during a meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Friday. Jahangiri had traveled to Turkey to attend the 9th Developing-8 Countries (D-8) meeting in Istanbul.

According to Iranian Vice President, some of the measures the two countries can take to benefit from their existing potentials include expediting the use of Iran and Turkey’s national currency in commercial transactions, further activating the private sectors of Iran and Turkey and facilitation of banking and customs cooperation which can help achieve the 30-billion-dollar trade volume envisioned in the economic transactions between the two countries.

He also called for facilitating the investment process of private sectors and encouraging them to expand cooperation and implement joint projects, adding "Iran and Turkey must use all the existing potentials to expand bilateral ties; to this end, a joint economic commission will soon be formed.”

Pointing to the policies of Iran on extraction of petroleum and gas, Jahangiri said "Iran is ready to supply Turkey’s energy and increase petroleum and gas exports to the country.”

The Iranian official touched upon Iran and Turkey’s common stance on regional issues and bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism, adding "resisting change in geographical borders and maintaining the territorial integrity of countries, enhancing stability and security in the region and fighting terrorism are among Iran and Turkey’s common goals and the two nations’ cooperation in these areas is advantageous to the peace and stability of the region.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, affirmed Ankara’s determination to boost relations with Tehran in all areas and said, "considering the comprehensive plans which are currently underway, we will soon reach the $30 billion trade volume in our economic transactions.”

He also voiced keen interest in importing more barrels of oil from Iran.

The Turkish president then slammed Iraqi Kurdistan region's move in holding the independence referedum as "illegal", calling on KRG authoroties to "compensate for this wrong move".

Erdogan then censured the West's double-standard approach in dealing with terrorist groups, highlighting Iran and Turkey's joint fight against terrorism.