Turkey To Use Lira in Trade with Iran
Turkey's Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen has said Ankara will soon begin trading with neighboring Iran in Turkish currency, the lira.
Tuzmen said Turkey has completed the necessary structural work to begin trade with Iran and Russia in its local currency, Press TV correspondent in Ankara Mehdi Gholizadeh reported.
He stressed that the plan will considerably increase Ankara's trade with Tehran and Moscow and that it will solve the problems caused by trade in foreign currencies.
Tuzmen said Turkey's President Abdullah Gul discussed the plan with Iranian and Russian leaders during his official visits to Tehran and Moscow.
Gul traveled to Iran in early March to attend a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
He held separate meetings with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Iran and Turkey, along with Pakistan, are founding members of ECO, an intergovernmental international organization that seeks to provide a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities.
The President of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Mohammad Nahavandian, said in January that Iran could change the trade corridor for European goods it imports from the Persian Gulf countries to Turkey to increase trade between Tehran and Ankara.
AKM/JG/DT