Iran, Turkey Sign 25-Year Cooperation Accord

Date: 19 July 2022 - 22:15

News ID: ۱۰۴۸۹۷

TEHRAN -- Iran and Turkey signed eight agreements after the meetings concluded, one of which was a 25-year cooperation accord.
Earlier President Ebrahim Raisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a joint press conference, during which they said that they aimed to take bilateral trade to an all-time high of $30 billion.
Iran has been eyeing a long-term cooperation agreement with neighboring Turkey for some time. The document was initially supposed to be signed during a planned Erdogan visit to Tehran in November 2021, but it did not materialize.
The two countries have been major trade partners for years, but bilateral trade has taken a serious hit in recent years due to U.S. sanctions on Iran and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total volume of bilateral trade peaked at $21 billion in 2012, but dropped to a low of $1 billion in 2020. It had rebounded to $5.5 billion by the end of 2021, and the Raisi administration – which has focused on a regional diplomacy initiative – wants to significantly boost it despite U.S. sanctions.
On Tuesday, they agreed to start negotiations on a new gas exports deal that will allow increased supply of natural gas from Iran to Turkey for a period of 25 years starting in 2026.

A report by the Iranian Presidency Office said talks on a new Iran-Turkey gas supply deal had started based on agreements reached between Raisi and Erdogan during a meeting held earlier in the day in Tehran.

“It was agreed in this regard that a renewal of the contract for exports of Iran’s gas to Turkey for 25 years and an increase in the amount of exports would be on the agenda of the two sides and negotiations (on the issue) started after that.”

Iran has been supplying around 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey under a 25-year agreement that was signed in 2001.

However, Turkey has been asking for increased supplies due to a rising demand for energy in the country’s household and manufacturing sectors.

Ankara has submitted similar requests to Russia and Azerbaijan, the two other gas suppliers to Turkey, while it is investing billions of dollars to develop a gas filed found in the Black Sea in 2020.