Tehran, 4 September 2023 (TDI): The Foreign Minister of Turkey, Hakan Fidan on the invite of the Foreign Minister of Iran, Hossein Amir Abdollahian visited Iran on September 3, to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The visit was centred on discussing various possibilities for further advancing bilateral cooperation in all fields with Iran and exchanging views on current regional and international developments.
The Turkish Foreign Minister and the accompanying delegation held two rounds of negotiations with the Iranian Foreign Minister, aiming at bilateral issues, and high-level regional and international concerns.
The Iranian Foreign Minister noted numerous agreements co between Iran and Turkey, especially during presidential visits, emphasizing that various critical issues in economic, commercial, energy, and security domains were on their agenda.
In this regard, he expressed his optimism towards further strengthening agreements as outlined within the framework of cooperation set by the Presidents of both countries.
The Iranian Foreign Minister delineated that activating existing mechanisms and holding specialized meetings between the two nations will help overcome obstacles and expedite the development of their relations.
In this regard, he set forth the need for facilitating private sector collaboration between the two countries.
Following that, he proposed for holding a joint committee meeting on transportation between the two countries shortly to enhance trade.
Moreover, he called the transit corridors a vital area for cooperation between the two countries and urged for coordination in that area.
In continuation to that, he expressed Iran’s readiness to hold a high level border commission meeting between the two nations.
Apart from discussing trade and transition, energy and electricity cooperation was highlighted as another crucial area of collaboration between Iran and Turkey.
In this context, it was suggested to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the regional energy market.
Furthermore, both sides reached a consensus on enhancing economic cooperation and aiming for a trade exchange volume of 30 billion dollars.
In this regard, it was emphasized by the Iranian Foreign Minister for having increased collaboration on customs issues to reach the $30 billion trade target.
Besides talking over economic dimensions, the cooperation in the fields of science, technology, healthcare, and agriculture was also highlighted.
The Iranian side expressed Iran’s readiness to host the 8th session of the agricultural and livestock cooperation committee.
Including, the preparations for the 8th Turkish-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council meeting were also discussed by both parties.
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In specification to water-related issues, the Iranian Foreign Minister emphasized the need to expedite the new round of technical committee meetings between the two countries to ensure the fair use of the Aras River’s water, safeguarding the historical, customary, and environmental rights of downstream regions.
Moreover, in the sector of environmental cooperation, the Iranian side acknowledged Turkey’s participation in the international environmental conference.
Turkey’s position in countering Islamophobia and disrespect for Islamic sanctities in some European countries was also acknowledged during the meeting.
Apart from that the Iranian side emphasized the importance of close collaboration between the two countries within the framework of Islamic Cooperation Organizations and other regional and international forums to counter Islamophobia and the insulting of the Holy Quran.
Along with that, the bilateral relations between the two countries in sectors of common border security, counter-terrorism, and higher education were discussed.
Both sides also talked about the regional issues involving Syria, Iraq, Palestine, the South Caucasus, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine.
