President Erdoğan: Our aim is to elevate the bilateral economic relations to the same level as the political relations

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, who is in Turkey for an official visit, attended the Turkey-Iran Business Forum held at Çankaya Palace in Ankara.

“OUR AIM IS TO ELEVATE THE BILATERAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS TO THE SAME LEVEL AS THE POLITICAL RELATIONS”

Delivering a speech at the Forum, President Erdoğan said Turkey is in cooperation with Iran in a wide range of areas, and that their aim is to elevate the bilateral economic relations to the same level as the political relations. Stating that within this framework, they desire to increase the bilateral trade volume to some 30 billion dollars, President Erdoğan underlined that the $22-billion trade volume reached in 2012 shows that $30-billion goal is achievable. “There are no obstacles that cannot be overcome or no issues that cannot be resolved before us if we wholeheartedly desire. I do not doubt that this step, which we will take with Iran, will open the doors of wider and greater cooperations during a period in which radical changes take place in the trade system both in our region and the world,” President Erdoğan noted.

“U.S. DECISION TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS MEANS PUNISHING THE IRANIAN PEOPLE”

Pointing out that there is an important issue that needs to be overcome in order for the two countries to raise the bilateral economic relations to the desired level, President Erdoğan highlighted that it is the issue of the U.S. sanctions against Iran, and added: “It is a must for us to prevent the U.S. decision to impose sanctions from hindering us to achieve our goals. I openly express at every opportunity and at every platform that we are against the sanctions, and that resorting to such pressure tools means punishing the Iranian people. We tell our counterparts at every level that this unilateral step will also undermine the international collaboration and the environment of trust. Are we to pursue war or peace in the world? The humanity does not need wars but peace. We must admit that they are all history now. I would like to reiterate on this occasion that we do not approve of the sanctions, and that no one should ever think that we will end our economic and trade relations with Iran because of the sanctions.”