Iranian, Turkish FMs meet to discuss bilateral ties, economic cooperation

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with visiting Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Sunday to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation and the implementation of bilateral agreements.

At a joint press conference, Amir-Abdollahian said the two countries have set an annual trade volume target of 30 billion euros (32.33 billion U.S. dollars) and are halfway to achieving the goal, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.

The talks focused on the implementation of the bilateral agreements signed between Iran and Türkiye during Turkish President Tayyip Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Tehran in July last year, said the Iranian top diplomat.

Amir-Abdollahian called for further cooperation between Iran and Türkiye in consular affairs to facilitate the travel of citizens from both countries.

The two ministers also vowed to take more active measures to prevent the spread of Islamophobia and desecration of the Islamic holy book of Quran, according to Amir-Abdollahian. Both Iran and Türkiye have agreed to hold a trilateral meeting to be attended by Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to increase economic cooperation among the three countries, Amir-Abdollahian said.

The Turkish foreign minister, for his part, said he and his Iranian counterpart held consultations on the Iranian president’s planned visit to Türkiye in the coming days, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Fidan said Ankara welcomes the normalization of relations between Tehran and Riyadh, describing Türkiye, Iran and Saudi Arabia as three major and responsible countries in the region, whose friendly relations are of great importance in terms of ensuring regional stability.

He said the two sides also discussed guaranteeing security along the common border, fighting terrorism and expanding trade, economic and energy cooperation.