Iran Press/ commentary: During the meeting, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran called the close relations between Iran and Turkey in the interest of peace and stability in the region.
"Regional cooperation between the two countries should be turned into international cooperation and this type of interaction, given the important position of the two countries, can be effective in global equations," President Raisi said.
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"We are looking to develop international cooperation with Iran," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, adding that "Today's meeting will give more impetus to relations between the two countries, both regionally and internationally."
The Iranian Foreign Minister also announced the agreement with his Turkish counterpart to formulate a roadmap for long-term cooperation between Iran and Turkey and expressed hope that the document would be signed during the Turkish President's upcoming visit to Iran.
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Even though the relations between Iran and Turkey in different periods have witnessed divergence due to some rivalries and regional and international developments, the two countries share common economic, political, and security interests on many issues. They have emphasized good neighborliness for more than 400 years.
Accordingly, in recent months, Iranian and Turkish officials in bilateral meetings or telephone conversations have emphasized the importance of bilateral relations in the economic field and regional cooperation to stabilize and prevent any tensions.
The history of Iran-Turkey peace and friendship and historical, religious, and cultural commonalities and regional and international cooperation within the framework of organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Economic Cooperation (ECO) have led to friendly ties between the two neighboring Muslim countries.
At present, Iran and Turkey are in close contact on border security issues, the fight against smuggling, as well as the fight against terrorism, but some factors beyond the control of governments, including unilateral and illegal US sanctions against Iran and the spread of the corona, have affected economic relations between the two countries.
"Unfortunately, during the Corona era, we fell in the field of economic relations, but this year we had a 71% growth in this field," said Cavusoglu. Although this figure is promising, we are far from our goals, and we need to be more active in this area.
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Iran and Turkey had previously forecast an increase in trade between the two countries to $ 30 billion by 2015. Still, the most significant amount of trade between the two countries was in 2012, which amounts to about $ 21 billion.
The interests of Iran and Turkey in expanding cooperation in all fields and strengthening the relations between the two countries as two influential powers in the region are considered pillars of peace and stability in West Asia.
In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing its principled positions and considering the region's countries' cooperation, has always tried to develop relations with neighboring countries, especially Turkey.
There are various capacities in the industry, agriculture, services and tourism, oil, gas, and petrochemicals in the two countries, which can be considered in developing a roadmap for long-term cooperation between Iran and Turkey.
Abdolreza Farajirad, a former Iranian diplomat and university professor, believes: "The expansion of political and economic relations between Iran and Turkey can create a good ground for the geographical expansion of regional relations founded by Iran and Turkey."
"Then it can include other countries such as Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and parts of the Caucasus to this regional cooperation," He said.
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