Turkish Trade Delegation to Visit Iran's Southeastern Province
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A trade delegation from Turkey is scheduled to pay a visit to Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman this month to study the province’s trade capacities, a provincial official said on Wednesday.
The Turkish delegation is scheduled to be in Kerman on January 11, the head of provincial commission for tourism and transportation at Kerman chamber of commerce, Seyed Ebrahim Alavi, told the Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.
“The Turkish delegation is comprised of traders and investors and will visit the province in a bid to discover the province's potentials for tourism and exports,” Alavi added.
Alavi also said that in addition to Turkey, Kerman province is already exporting its non-oil products, such as pistachios, dried nuts, decorative stones, and hand-woven carpets to Afghanistan or via Afghanistan to India, Pakistan and other states.
Turkey’s foreign minister had said on November 27 that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani will visit Turkey in January.
“Turkey has been pursuing a constant foreign policy in the last 10 years. It is true that we have some differences with neighboring countries, but the tenets of our foreign policy have not changed," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who was speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Recently, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in Turkey to attend the nuclear disarmament and international security meeting.
Iranian officials say Iran and Turkey are two major and influential regional countries, which can contribute to peace in the Middle East.
Iran, which owns the world’s largest natural gas reserves, is Turkey’s second biggest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.
The volume of Iran-Turkey annual trade exchanges reached roughly USD16 billion in 2011, and soared past USD22 billion by the end of 2012.
Turkish exports to Iran are mainly machinery, motor vehicles, iron and steel products, boilers, electric devices, tobacco products. Crude oil and natural gas dominate Iranian exports to Turkey with 90%.
