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Iran-Turkey on Trade Corridor

Tehran, Iran | February 09, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

Head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce Mohammad Nahavandian

Head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Mohammad Nahavandian

Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce Mohammad Nahavandian suggests a change in the import corridor for goods Iran receives from Europe. An Iranian official suggests that the country should import its European goods via Turkey in place of the Persian Gulf countries.

The President of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Mohammad Nahavandian said that Tehran and Ankara can pave the ground for such a move, as their political relations have improved considerably.

“The global economic downturn has created many problems for all the world’s countries, but we should use the situation in the best possible way,” Nahavandian said in a meeting in Tehran with the Turkish State Minister for Foreign Commerce, Kursad Tuzmen.

He noted that there is an imbalance between Iranian imports and exports through some Persian Gulf countries. “If we change the trade corridor for the European goods we import, from the Persian Gulf to Turkey, we would see a trade balance,” he said.

Iran currently enjoys a considerable amount of trade with the Persian Gulf countries, especially the UAE.

Iran was the most important export destination last year from the UAE’s main free zone in Dubai with a commerce value of Dh18.6b. The next most important export partner was Saudi Arabia, which received Dh12.8b, followed by India at Dh12b.

More than 10,000 Iranian firms, according to the Iranian Business Council in Dubai, have investments in the UAE.

Iranians have recently been treated in a humiliating way by some of these trade partners.

An Iranian MP announced earlier that Iran has decided to discontinue the transfer of its investment funds to the UAE and readdress its capital to Turkey, following the fingerprinting of its citizens by the Persian Gulf state.

“Fingerprinting of UAE citizens and citizens of any other country which humiliates Iranians must continue vigorously,” Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, a member of Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said.

In addition, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani Wednesday urged the UAE to reconsider its attitude regarding the fingerprinting of Iranians entering the country.

“The UAE should know that the Parliament’s demand about their attitude is serious,” Larijani said, adding that the Iranian lawmakers are chagrined when observing the UAE’s attitude toward Iranian citizens, while the two countries have a large volume of trade, FARS news agency reported.

Turkish’ Recent Trips Garner $550 mln in Export Deals

Meanwhile, Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade Kürşad Tüzmen has said his visits to Egypt and Iran in the last two weeks will lead to at least $550 million in export revenues for Turkey.

The minister was presenting a balance sheet of his three-day official visit to Iran with 160 businessmen in a news conference in Mashhad, Iran. The deals and agreements during both the talks with Iranian First Vice President Parviz Davoodi and the negotiations with the minister of trade industry and oil resulted in trade revenues for Turkey of as much as $250 million to $300 million, the minister announced.

He also talked about investment opportunities in Mashhad, which attracts 20 million domestic tourists; the city hosts the tombs of many religiously important figures. “This place needs many infrastructure and superstructure investments,” Tüzmen said. “Khorasan, on the other hand, holds the highest population after Tehran, and it also offers many investment opportunities. All in all, this country is a very ideal place for Turkish businessmen with its natural gas, mineral resources and agricultural richness.”

The minister said the Turkish businessmen accompanying him during this visit earned $250 million out of their trade connections with the Egyptians. “All of this is more meaningful considering the current crisis conditions,” he noted, adding that the neighboring countries are the least affected markets from the ongoing global financial meltdown. “Iran is already an example of a closed economy due to the international sanctions. Therefore, we can see that this country has sustained almost no damage from the spreading crisis. We have a market here, but there is still a lot more to do in this country,” he said, adding that the Turkish businessmen were content with their relations during the two-day visit.

“Turkey can’t just say ‘Let’s close our doors and wait until the turmoil is over’,” Tüzmen stated. He said Turkey has a better chance over its global rivals — mostly the European traders that also want to have a share in the surrounding countries — because it has geographical proximity and deep-rooted historical and cultural relations.

D-8 Organization welcomes this move of bilateral trade relations between Iran-Turkey, as a bolstering move toward the deepening of intra-trade relation within D-8 Organization. Dipo Alam, the Secretary General, said that this move is in line with the PTA D-8 held in KL Summit recently, whose RoO was approved by memberstates. Alam said that in D-8 RoO and PTA agreement, as well as in the Protocol on the Common Preferential Tariff Scheme (PRETAS) and the Preferential Tariff Scheme for OIC (PTSOIC), and in economic cooperation of ECO, this sort of bilateral trade and investment is strongly encouraged. “And vice-versa, we hope that Iranian investor would also be interested to invest in Turkey, especially in Eastern part of the country where development has yet to catch up with its northern and western region,” he noted in his office on Tuesday.

As for the industrial cooperation as promoted by Tuzmen, D-8 hopes that this issue can be further studied and implemented, as in accordance with the result of the 4th WG on Industry in Bali, Indonesia, in June 27-28 August 2008. “We also hope that this kind of initiatives, can increase the interest of our other memberstates as well,” said Dipo Alam.

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