Page 27 - IRANRptNov19

Presidents of Iran, Turkey discuss building up trade, switching to non-dollar transactions
Iran Press News Agency reported that one of the newly struck agreements included a “technology and industrial town” that would be situated near the city of Ardabil in Iran.
The governor of Ardabil Province met with Azerbaijan’s deputy economy minister on October 19 and visited some border regions selected for establishing joint industrial parks, it added.
According to the governor, Akbar Behnamjou, Ardabil province is likely to be a central hub for joint operations between the two neighbouring countries. “Ardabil Province will meet the infrastructure requirements for these industrial parks including water and electricity supplies,” Behnamjou said.
“We have announced to the Azeri side our capacities, including the distances to the main roads and railways, and the infrastructure elements like internet connections, electricity and water, as well as the investors’ necessary tax and legal exemptions,” he added.
Azerbaijani Deputy Economy Minister Niyazi Safarov reportedly said further feasibility studies would be made for joint industrial parks. “Establishing joint industrial parks is a new chapter in economic relations between two friendly and neighbouring countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran is moving rapidly towards development and this cooperation will definitely strengthen the economic relations between the two countries,” Safarov said.
The director of the Iran National Innovation Fund, Ali Vahdat, described the signing of the six MoUs between the Iranian knowledge-based companies as “just the beginning.”
The presidents of neighbouring Turkey and Iran focused on expanding bilateral trade, forming banking ties and switching trade transactions to contracts drawn up in either the Turkish lira (TRY) or Iranian rial (IRR) rather than the USD during a meeting in Ankara, Iran’s central bank governor said on September 16.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bilateral meeting conducted on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting that included Russian President Vladimir Putin and dealt with joint efforts to address the conflict in Syria.
Governor of Iran’s central bank Abdolnaser Hemmati wrote on social media that Rouhani and Erdogan were intent on building up trade—the countries, which both have a population of slightly over 80mn people, have talked of a target of $30bn per annum, around triple the current level—and squeezing the dollar out of the picture where possible.
Both Iran and Turkey are concerned at the high exposure to US sanctions that results from trading in USD, as is Russia which has also in recent years been working on building up its non-dollar trade.
27​ IRAN Country Report​ November 2019 www.intellinews.com