During his official talks in Tehran, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday addressed a meeting of the Turkish-Iranian Business Forum. Calling Turkey and Iran key actors for ensuring peace and stability in the region, Erdogan called for more cooperation among regional countries to solve regional problems. "I would like stress that the region's issues cannot be solved by forces from outside," he said. "These issues should be solved by initiatives and cooperation by regional countries, and we need to achieve that."

Stating that Turkey wants to foster friendly relations with its neighbors and regional countries, Erdogan added, "Over the seven years of our government, we have been pursuing a policy of zero problems with our neighbors, and we very quickly began to see the fruits of this policy." Telling how Turkey's exports to Iran rose from $334 million in 2002 to some $2 billion in 2008, Erdogan said their bilateral trade volume hit $10 billion last year. Saying that this figure is expected to reach $20 billion in 2011, Erdogan pledged to do whatever is necessary to further improve Turkish-Iranian trade ties. Erdogan also pledged that Ankara would continue to encourage Turkish investors to invest in Iran, asking Iranian officials to help Turkish entrepreneurs overcome their investment problems in the country.

Erdogan also urged Iran to review its price policies for land transportation firms. Stressing that Iran has very important faith and culture tourism destinations, Erdogan said they should be better promoted. Package tours and promotions could pave the way for enhanced faith and culture tourism in Iran, Erdogan said. Also speaking at the meeting, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi underlined that Turkey and Iran have the necessary political will to improve their bilateral ties in various areas, eliminating all kinds of barriers. Stating that the two countries can use their national currencies in bilateral trade in the future, Rahimi also proposed that a joint aircraft company be set up. Erdogan yesterday also received Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and will continue his talks today.

Source: Turkiye (Turkey), October 28, 2009
Posted at: 2009-10-28