Tasnim � Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif plans to pay an official visit to Turkey on Sunday to hold talks with senior officials of the neighboring country.

Zarif is slated to leave Tehran for Istanbul to attend bilateral meetings with the Turkish officials on issues of mutual interest.

It would be the Iranian top diplomat�s fifth visit to Turkey in the current Iranian calendar year, which started in March 2019.

Tehran and Ankara have ramped up efforts in recent years to boost bilateral trade, setting a $30-billion annual trade target and signing several agreements to enhance cooperation in various areas.

Turkey is one of Iran�s major trading partners in the region which has come under pressure from Washington to stop working with Tehran under the US� anti-Iran sanctions.

Turkey has emphasized that the US demands to stop purchasing oil and gas from Iran would go unheeded by Ankara.