TEHRAN - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met today in Tehran Mohammad Reza Aref, the Iranian First Vice President.
After their tete-a-tete, Aref and Erdogan chaired meeting between Turkish and Iranian delegations.
In this meeting, Aref said that two countries aimed to increase their bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in the medium term.
Aref noted that Turkish businessmen had assumed realization of projects worth of 130 million U.S. dollars in Iran, and said that Iran wanted to continue cooperating with Turkey in areas such as public works, energy and telecommunications.
Recalling that Turkey was buying natural gas from Iran since January 2001, Aref hoped that cooperation in this area would also continue.
Aref stated that it would be for Turkey's and Iran's interest if they adopt a common stance as regards Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine issues.
Claiming that disorder is reigning in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine due to ''biased stance'' of the United States, Aref said that the position of that country necessitated cooperation among regional powers.
On the other hand, Erdogan said that economic, trade and cultural relations between Turkey and Iran had ''reached a peak'' in the last 20 months. Noting that 16 Turkish ministers had visited Iran recently, Erdogan said that there was friendship and brotherhood between two neighboring countries.
(BRC-ULG) 28.07.2004