MNA � In a Wed. meeting of High Council for Strategic Partnerships of Iran and Turkey in Tehran, Iranian President Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart stressed resolve for increasing the volume of trade transactions up to $30 billion.


In the meeting that was held on Wednesday in Tehran, Iraanian President Hassan Rouhani referred to the good, amicable relations between the two countries, adding "Tehran and Ankara are resolute to deepen relations and economic cooperation based on mutual interest."

"Today, the presence and role of the two regional powers, Iran and Turkey, to establish stability and security in the Middle East is more important than ever," Rouhani added.

The president went on to note the development of Tehran-Ankara cooperation in various sectors, including energy, voicing Iran's readiness to�promote cooperation with Turkey in order to meet its need for energy, including gas.

President Rouhani deemed essential the development of economic relations and the promotion of the volume of trade between the two countries toward a $30-billion target in business relations, adding that the latest agreements signed in the banking sector will further increase banking cooperation.

"The talks also stipulated that the agreement on the use of the national currencies of Iran and Turkey to facilitating trade between the central banks of the two countries, along with two major banks, will be signed within the next week," Rouhani added.

Referring to the potentials for investing in Iran in various sectors, including infrastructure, petrochemicals and tourism, the president called on Turkish companies and businesspeople to have an�active participation in Iranian projects like other foreign companies.

According to Rouhani, the two sides can participate in various sectors such as customs cooperation, electricity, water, tourism, construction, entertainment centers, development of tourism and consular and judicial cooperation.

The president also added that Iran and Turkey could increase their cooperation in the ECO Organization, especially with regard to the ECO Bank and the regional joint market of electricity of ECO.

Elsewhere, the Iranian president touched upon regional issues, particularly the recent referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan Region,�adding�"no change in geographical borders and preserving the territorial integrity of countries are the ultimate goal of Iran and Turkey."

He further discussed the Syrian situation, saying tripartite negotiations with Russia will continue within the framework of Astana process for Syrian settlement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, for his part, voiced confidence that�these meetings would remove obstacles to the development of bilateral cooperation and relations and provide conditions for reaching new solutions and concluding agreements and projects for the further development of relations.

Referring to the interest of companies and the private sector of Turkey to attend and invest in Iran's projects, the Turkish president called for more incentives to be given to businesspeople and private sectors of the two countries to develop cooperation and implement joint projects.

Groundwork is ready to develop trade to $30 billion, said the Turkish President referring to plans to increase the level of economic cooperation between the two countries.

He also voiced satisfaction over the level of relations between the two countries' armed forces.

Meanwhile, the two sides signed four MoUs between ministries of economy, central banks, national libraries and television broadcasting.