Turkey's premier Erdogan arrives in Tehran

Rasa - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking delegation to discuss key bilateral and regional issues with senior Iranian officials.

News ID: 609

Date: 29 January 2014 - 15:27

Erdogan arrived in Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on Tuesday night and was welcomed by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Erdogan is scheduled to hold talks with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian officials during the two-day visit.

The Turkish premier is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci.

According to reports, Iran and Turkey will probably sign a high-level strategic cooperation agreement during the Turkish premier’s trip to Tehran, which is his first visit to the Islamic Republic after Rouhani won the presidential election in June 2013.

The Turkish-Iranian Economic Committee is also set to hold a meeting during Erodgan's visit, ending a two-year halt.

Erdogan will deliver a speech on Iran-Turkey bilateral relation at the international institute of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

In a statement before leaving Turkey, Erdogan hoped his visit would create suitable atmosphere to increase trade exchange to $30 billion by 2015, from $13 billion last year.

Earlier in January, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Turkey and met with Erdogan and Davutoglu.

During the meeting between the Iranian foreign minister and Turkish premier, Tehran and Ankara underlined their determination to boost the value of bilateral trade volume to $30 billion by 2015.

Iran is Turkey’s second biggest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.