Financial Tribune - The main goal of Iranians in establishing companies in Turkey is to use the neighboring country as a platform to ease exports from and imports to Iran in the face of US sanctions�

A total of 970 Iranian companies were established in Turkey last year, making Iran the biggest foreign country to form companies in the neighboring country, the head of Iran-Turkey Studies Center said.

�As the minimum amount of capital required to set up a company in Turkey stands at 12,000 liras ($1,979), we can say that Iranians have invested at least $1.92 million in the neighboring country last year,� Jalal Ebrahimi also told Financial Tribune.

Iran was followed, he said, by Syria with 747 companies, Iraq with 337, Germany and Egypt with 326 each, Saudi Arabia with 318, the UAE with 229 and Libya with 195 companies.

A total of 11,490 foreign companies were established in Turkey in 2019, according to figures released by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).