Roundup: Nuclear deal to boost trade, investment between Turkey, Iran

Turkey may very well tap into the potential business opportunities after the nuclear deal agreed by Iran and major world powers in exchange for lifting sanctions, analysts said.

That includes a surge in Turkish exports to Iran, in investment in mining, construction and tourism industries, as well as boasting the bilateral trade volume especially in automotive, chemical and petro-chemical industry.

"This agreement by Iran may be a historic opportunity for us," Ali Agaoglu, an expert on Turkish economy, said.

He added that the centuries-long rivalry for regional leadership between the two countries could not be an impediment in front of developing better cooperation mutually.

Turkish government welcomed the agreement, saying that the full implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers is of vital importance for peace, security and stability in the region.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the lifting of sanctions on Iran would contribute to the regional economy and would have a direct impact on Turkey.

"Iran nuclear deal is a great news for the Turkish economy," Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek commented.

Turkey and Iran signed the Preferential Trade Agreement last year and the lifting of sanctions may release the full potential of that agreement, Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a professor of international relations at Ankara-based Gazi University told Xinhua.

"Turkey should act fast to capitalize on current opportunities as it will face competition from other countries in Iranian market," he underlined.

The deal may also help both countries recover their losses on trade volume.

The trade volume between Turkey and Iran fell from 21.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to 13.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, despite the fact that both countries have earlier agreed on boosting the volume to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2016.

The bulk of the trade is composed of Turkey's purchase of Iran's natural gas and oil.

Another advantage for Turkey is to benefit from likely cheaper oil and natural gas now that lifting the sanctions on Iran would release more Iranian energy resources to markets.

The price of oil has already gone slightly down on global markets on the news of the breakthrough deal between Iran and six major powers.

Turkish exports to Iran suffered from sanctions as well. Exports to Iran were nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 before dropping to a little under four billion dollars in 2014.

Some analysts believed the deal would also make Turkey, a western neighbor of Iran, a key transit route to carry Iranian energy resources.

Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat who chairs the Istanbul-based think tank Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, highlighted the possibility that Turkey may turn into an energy hub, with the natural gas that it would take from Iran and sell to the European markets.

Despite the rosy predictions on economy, Turkish experts believe that political differences between the two are still set to remain, especially their views on Syria and Iraq.

Even under the sanctions regime, Iran has not given up to Turkish demands in Iraq and Syria, Erol warned.

"The deal will make Iran more aggressive in the region in pursuing political goals now that the pressure on Tehran has eased," he noted. Endit