Iran urges cooperation with Turkey to counter Islamophobia

Iran’s first vice president says cooperation between Iran and Turkey could effectively foil the Zionists’ plots aimed at promoting Islamophobia in the world as the two nations play a major role in resolving current disputes of the Muslim world.

Es’haq Jahangiri said Sunday that Tehran and Ankara should expand their collaboration in order to neutralize plots hatched by the Zionists to promote Islamophobia in the world.

At a meeting with the visiting Turkish Minister of Development Cevdet Yılmaz, Jahangiri highlighted numerous cases of cultural commonalities between the two countries, saying Tehran sees no limits for expansion of its ties with Ankara.

$30 billion trade volume achievable

He said the current level of trade exchanges between the two counties is lower than the existing capacities, adding that reaching a USD 30 billion trade volume would not be difficult if the two sides try to remove some existing obstacles and pave the ground for a more active involvement of the private sector.

Iran and Turkey are set to bring the volume of their bilateral trade to a target of USD 30 billion by 2015. Trade between the countries stood at $22bn in 2012, before dipping to $20bn in 2013.

Jahangiri also touched upon an imminent visit by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying that it could further facilitate the expansion of ties between the two states.

Iran said Saturday that it plans to sign 12 cooperation agreements with Turkey during Erdoğan’s upcoming visit. The agreements mostly address cooperation in the energy, trade, health, transportation, and customs sectors.

The Turkish minister, for his part, described the expansion of ties as “a necessity for establishing tranquility in the Middle East.” Yılmaz said that the two countries are shouldering “heavy responsibilities and commitments” in the current sensitive period of time as their efforts for expansion of ties could ensure the interests of the regional nations.

He also expressed hope that Erdoğan’s future visit to Tehran could result in “major achievements” in dealing with the issue of terrorism, resolving regional disputes and issues related to the ISIL Takfiri terrorists operating in Iraq and Syria.