Larijani calls for development of Iran-Turkey cooperation

Iranian Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran and Turkey should use all the existing opportunities and capacities to boost their cooperation at bilateral, regional and international levels. Larijani made the remarks during a meeting with the Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin in Tehran on Wednesday. “Friendly relations between the two countries are not solely based on neighborhood, but also on empathy and common cultural-religious values,” he noted. Iranian Majlis speaker stressed Tehran’s positive attitude towards cooperation with Turkey and cautioned against allowing foreigners to take advantage of regional developments to the detriment of Islamic world. “International powers are concerned about the expansion of the Islamic world’s capability and power in various technological, political and economic areas,” he said. For his part, Ergin emphasized that there is no major difference or problem between Iran and Turkey and cooperation between the two countries will be the guarantor of peace and stability in the region. The regional problems should be resolved through the cooperation of regional countries such as Iran and Turkey and other parties should not be allowed to take the initiative, he added. Tehran and Ankara have sharply increased the level of their trade ties over the past years. In the year 2000, the bilateral trade stood at about only one billion dollars, but in 2010, the level exceeded 10 billion dollars. The figure hit 15 billion dollars last year. The two neighboring countries seek to increase the value of bilateral trade transactions to 30 billion dollars in 2015.