TEHRAN (Iran News) – A senior official in Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) says trade with Turkey will easily reach $15 billion in the calendar year 1404 (early March 2025 to late March 2026).
Addressing an Iran-Turkey Business Forum, Headof Trade Promotion Organization’s West Asia Farzad Piltan said, “We have set a target for at least $15 billion in trade with Turkey until 1404 which can be met through cooperation with the private sector.”
Piltan said U.S. sanctions on Iran have hampered the trade of certain items on a list of nearly 500 goods and products that can enjoy lower tariffs under a preferential trade agreement (PTA) between Iran and Turkey.
“Some of these commodities are subject to the sanctions and we have to carry out more negotiations for the PTA agreement to become more effective,” said the official in a forum in Tehran that was focused on trade between Iran and Turkey.
Piltan said Iran and Turkey have also a great potential to increase the amount of international transit of cargo that passes through their territories.
Annual trade between Iran and Turkey reached a total of $13.558 billion in the calendar year to late March 2023, according to figures released in April by the Iranian customs authority (IRICA).
Turkey was the third largest customer of Iranian non-oil exports over the year to late March with some $7.459 billion worth of purchases, an increase of 23% compared with the year before, IRICA figures showed.
He also said that Iranian companies are ready to reconstruct cities in Turkey destroyed by recent devastating quakes which claimed the lives of many people in this country.
Piltan said that bolstering amicable ties with the neighboring and regional countries is the main approach of the Iranian administration.
Accordingly, senior Iranian officials have placed special emphasis on developing trade-economic cooperation with neighboring Turkey, he added.
The two countries have high potentials to promote bilateral ties in trade and economic fields, he said, adding, “Given that Turkey has a similar culture, economy and history with Iran, these potentials can be used optimally for the development of trade and economic relations.”
Meanwhile Head of Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce Mehrdad Saadat proposed that Iran’s trade with Turkey should be handed to the private sector, saying: “The government cannot be a good businessman. But the real private sector has already come to work and can operate with the support of the government.”
Pointing out that Iran was not able to realize its potential of $15 billion dollar exchanges from Turkey’s 500-billion-dollar trade volume last year, he continued: “Although our exports to Turkey are growing, they are not satisfactory.”
He noted that the government must trust the private sector in order to realize the trade potential with Turkey.
“Over 85 percent of Turkey’s economy is in the hands of the private sector and they are more inclined to interact with the private sector of Iran,” the official said.
He emphasized that the preferential trade between Iran and Turkey should be operational as soon as possible and the meeting of the two countries’ joint economic committee should be held after a long break.
Meanwhile addressing the event, Commercial Counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Tehran Bulent Orhan said that neighborhood of Turkey with Europe is the advantage of Turkey, and blamed the cumbersome regulations which increase the cost of trade and called for accelerating business with using modern technology and avoiding traditional actions.
He also called for transparency in trade, reiterating that the more colorful role of chambers of commerce, the more transparency will be in the trade.
