A high-ranking Turkish official says the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey plan to set up a joint free trade zone in order to further increase economic interactions.
On Thursday, Turkey’s Deputy Economy Minister Ibrahim Senel said that the two countries are currently working on the project, Turkish-language newspaper Sabah reported.

On November 28, Turkey’s economy minister said that all Turkish banks would be able to conduct transactions with Iran should the sanctions on the country be eased in the wake of a recent deal between the Islamic Republic and the six world powers.

“In case the sanctions on Iran are eased, Halkbank and other Turkish banks will announce their readiness to process Iran's foreign banking transactions,” Zafer Caglayan stated.

State-owned Halkbank is one of Turkey's biggest banks.

The Turkish minister also said that due to the sanctions on Iran’s banking system by the United States, even Turkey’s “private banks were unable to conduct transactions” with Iranian banks.

Caglayan called the sanctions on the Islamic Republic “unfair,” saying the US-engineered sanctions pressured the Turkish banking system not to cooperate with Iran.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the US, China, Russia, France and Britain -- plus Germany sealed an interim deal in Geneva on November 24 to pave the way for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.

Under the Geneva deal, the six countries have undertaken to lift some of the existing sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during six months. It was also agreed that no more sanctions would be imposed on Iran during the same period.

By Press TV

 

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