Tehran, Ankara to resume preferential trade talks

TEHRAN,May 30 (MNA) – The Iranian deputy industry minister, heading a delegation, arrived in Ankara on Tuesday to resume talks with Turkish officials on preferential trade between the two neighboring states. Negotiations started three years ago. Iran has proposed a list of 174 industrial and 120 agricultural goods to Turkey to be included in the preferential trade, the IRNA News Agency quoted Hamid Safdel as saying. The preferential trade agreement will be aimed to reduce 10 percent of customs tariffs each year during a period of three years. Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi in a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in March said that the two countries had agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to 30 billion dollars within the next three years. The value of trade between Iran and Turkey surpassed 16 billion dollars in 2011. “Today we became determined to boost this rise to 100 percent and achieve the 30 billion dollar target as soon as possible,” Rahimi stated.