Iran Agrees to Revise PTA With Turkey

EghtesadOnline: Preliminary agreements to revise the existing preferential trade pact between Iran and Turkey were reached by the two sides during the recent visit of Turkish Minister of Economic Affairs Nihat Zeybekci to Tehran on July 8.

News ID: ۷۷۷۷۵۲

18 July 2017

President of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran Mojtaba Khosrotaj added that the final agreement will take place provided Turkey accepts Iran's three conditions, namely elimination of quotas it has set on Iranian goods, modification of Iran's 140-item list from mainly agricultural products to industrial goods, and removal of extra customs duties on Iranian goods not included in the PTA list as compensation, Mehr News Agency reported.

He added that Turkey has asked for time to go through these conditions and if they approve, the revised preferential trade agreement will be implemented; if not, negotiations will continue.

It has been stipulated in Iran-Turkey PTA, according to Khosrotaj, that the agreement may be revised over time upon the request of either side, Financial Tribune reported.

Secretary-General of Iran-Turkey Commercial Council Jalal Ebrahimi said early in July that the two sides intend to expand the PTA to 400 goods with the aim of paving the way for arriving at the $30 billion target in bilateral trade as per an economic roadmap agreed between the two neighboring countries.

"Iran is, for the first time, including steel and industrial products in the list of commodities it is exporting to Turkey under preferential tariffs," he said.

The list has until now only included agricultural products.

The PTA between Iran and Turkey was signed in January 2014 and took effect a year later.

Based on the initial agreement, Turkey lowered tariffs for 125 Iranian goods and Iran reduced rates for 140 Turkish items.