Turkey seeks to push trade volume with Iran to $30bn

Turkish Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz said Wednesday his country seeks to push the bilateral trade volume with Iran to USD 30 billion a year.
To increase the trade with Iran will help promote stability and prosperity in the Middle East, he said at a joint press conference with visiting Iranian Minister of Communications Mahmoud Vaizi following their talks here.
The trade exchanges between the two neighbors hit USD 11.3 billion in the first ten months of the last year, Yilmaz said, noting that 175 Turkish companies invest more than USD 1.3 billion in Iran.
After hitting USD 22 billion in 2012, the trade volume declined to USD 14.5 billion the following year due to the economic sanctions on Iran, he noted.
The Turkish minister voiced hope for inking a free trade agreement with Iran as early as possible, adding that the preferential trade agreement, signed in 2014, took force this January.
On his part, Vaizi said his country agreed to conduct the trade transactions with Turkey in local currencies.
He voiced hope for solving the problem of the transit fee for trucks which cropped up in the recent months between the two Muslim neighbors.
The Iranian authorities demanded that the Turkish trucks, using the Iranian territory to export goods to Central Asia, pay double fees, which promoted Ankara to adopt a tit-for-tat action.