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Turkish PM says talks with Iranian officials "very helpful"

30 January 2014 01:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Wednesday that his talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian officials on diverse issues were "very helpful," APA reports quoting Xinhua

A number of agreements were signed by the officials of both countries, Erdogan said in a meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"We will boost our relations to an extent that as if the ministers of our two countries were working together within a joint cabinet," the Turkish prime minister was quoted as saying by the Iranian state IRIB TV.

The capacities of Iran and Turkey are a proper ground to further strengthen the relations between the two countries, Khamenei said.

Existing "brotherhood, kindness and friendship" between Iran and Turkey have been exemplary over the past centuries, the Iranian supreme leader said.

Seriousness of Tehran and Ankara in implementing the agreements clinched in Erdogan's trip to Iran is necessary for boosting the bilateral ties, he added.

The visit of Erdogan to Tehran came following a recent interim nuclear deal between the West and Iran which has paved way for the West to partially lift economic sanctions on the country and has provided the opportunity for Turkey to gain access to Iran's energy resources.

The Iranian and Turkish officials also called for a boost in bilateral economic ties, raising the target of boosting trade transaction to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, said Iranian First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri.

Jahangiri pointed to the preferential trade agreement signed here between Iran and Turkey on Wednesday, saying that the agreement is "an important move which will help the economic cooperation of the two countries enhance."

Iran and Turkey had "good and constructive talks on the exports of Iran's natural gas to Turkey. We hope it could be finalized," the Iranian vice president said in a meeting with Erdogan.

He expressed hope that Erdogan's visit to Tehran will be a " turning point in the relations between Tehran and Ankara."

For his part, Erdogan was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency that "We import oil and natural gas from Iran. These are strategic products that Turkey imports from Iran and we can receive them more (than before)."

Iran is Turkey's second biggest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.

Turkey and Iran also signed an agreement on Wednesday to establish a high level cooperation council between two countries in a bid to improve economic relations between Ankara and Tehran.

Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh said on the sidelines of signing the agreement that Iran has set Turkey as a priority in line with attempts to normalize relations with the world, according to semi-official Mehr news agency.

Erdogan's one-day visit to Tehran was his first visit to Iran after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in June 2013.

"When Rouhani became the Iranian president, Turkey and Iran decided to communicate frequently, if possible every month, to discuss our mutual agendas and exchange views. I can say that we have accomplished this in the past five months," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Press TV earlier this month.