Iran, Turkiye Plan To Triple Bilateral Trade To US$30 Billion

Iran and Turkiye are embarking on a long-term cooperation plan devised based on the capacities of the two countries that would promote ties, according to Iran’s Ambassador in Turkiye Mohammad Farazmand.

The plan includes trade, economy, banking, cultural, and security cooperation that has been drafted and signed to support the bilateral relations. Iran and Turkey’s current annual trade volume is US$11 billion and this could grow to US$30 billion, Farazmand stated.

He said that Iran can increase its gas export to Turkiye up to 240,000 barrels of oil per day which would lead to an increase in trade and raise the trade to US$20 billion, effectively doubling it by 2024.

Referring to the trade via three border crossings between the two countries, Farazmand pointed out that Iran is the optimal route for cargo transit from Turkey to Central Asia, Afghanistan, and China while Iranian trucks could export its products to Europe via Turkiye.

“The economy of the two countries completes each other. Iran can export energy and petrochemical products to Turkiye, and import goods in return,” he said.

He also highlighted the good capacities of Turkish contractor companies in housing construction, railway, sewage, and building roads that could help Iran complete its projects. The Iranian official stressed the necessity to review the list of 140 goods in the Iran and Turkey Preferential trade agreement to have equal export and import.

The proposals make sense as the connectivity between Iran and Turkiye and the rest of Central Asia and South Asia improve as the INSTC route between the Caspian Sea, leading to Turkiye, Russia and Europe, and the Persian Gulf, leading to the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia become a reality. The final rail links between Iranian Ports on the Caspian and the Persian Gulf are expected to be completed by mid 2023.