Hemmati Holds Talks in Ankara

Abdolnasser Hemmati said achieving the annual trade target of $30 billion between the two neighbors would be difficult in the light of the prevailing banking hurdles. Iran is under US economic sanctions that have undermined its banking ties to the outside world.

“Reaching the $30 billion trade target demands expansion of banking and monetary ties between two sides,” Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post. 

He conferred with Murat Uysal, a former deputy and present governor of the Central Bank of Turkey. Details of the talks were not available, according to Financial Tribune.

Uysal was appointed as the top banker after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, removed his predecessor Murat Cetinkaya over a dispute about interest rate cuts. 

Hemmati described the talks with Uysal as “highly constructive” and “friendly”. 

“I underscored Iran’s decision to expand commercial and economic relations with its neighbors, particularly Turkey”. 

The CBI boss pointed to earlier agreements reached by the presidents of the two countries, reiterating that “both presidents have a resolve to expand bilateral trade.” 

Hemmati accompanied President Hassan Rouhani during a visit to Turkey last December and attended meetings with his Turkish counterpart.

At the 5th Meeting of High Council of Iran-Turkey Strategic Cooperation in Ankara chaired by Rouhani and Erdogan, the two sides agreed to step up economic cooperation with the aim of reaching a $30-billion annual trade target and voiced concern over the illegal US sanctions -- a move they said was undermining the region's economy.

Last September, Turkey, Iran and Russia agreed to use their local currencies for commercial activities between the three neighbors. 

Data on trade between the two countries indicate that Iran’s trade with the northwestern neighbor reached $2.86 billion in the first four months of 2019.

Liquefied natural gas, non-alloy zinc, aluminum, urea and bitumen were Iran’s main exports to Turkey, while Turkey exported mainly cooking bananas, tobacco and fiber during the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019).