‘Iran, Turkey to strike cooperation deals’

Iran and Turkey will sign six cooperation agreements in various fields, including in the energy sector, during President Hassan Rouhani’s upcoming visit to Ankara, says a top Iranian official.

Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi, who is in Turkey, made the remarks on Wednesday after meetings with several senior Turkish officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several other ministers.

President Rouhani is scheduled to travel to Turkey on Monday heading a high-ranking delegation. He is slated to sit down with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Erdogan.

Vaezi assessed as positive Iran-Turkey cooperation in various areas, including energy, and said “Turkish officials are willing to increase [natural] gas imports from Iran,” adding that Tehran is ready to meet the demand.

Iran is Turkey’s second biggest natural gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.

Commenting on the possibility of transferring Iran’s natural gas to Europe via Turkish soil, he said negotiations are ongoing between Tehran and Ankara in that regard.

Iran and Turkey signed several documents on economic, cultural, political, trade, banking, customs and cinematic cooperation during Erdogan’s January visit to Iran.

During his official two-day stay in Tehran, Erdogan met with senior Iranian officials, including President Rouhani, where the Turkish premier underlined Ankara’s resolve to bring its economic transactions with Iran to USD30 billion by 2015.

The Iranian president said that Tehran and Ankara can expand mutual relations in all economic sectors, including the construction of power plants and refineries as well as industrial, oil and gas cooperation.