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Turkish, Iranian presidents vow to boost ties after lifting of sanctions on Tehran

Xinhua, April 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkey and Iran on Saturday pledged to boost ties after the lifting of most international sanctions on Tehran, as the presidents of both countries chaired a strategic cooperation council aimed at improving bilateral relationship.

"Our trade volume had previously been 22 billion U.S. dollars, but decreased to 10 billion after sanctions. Now we aim to make it 30 billion. We have agreed to mutually increase our investments," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint press conference with visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

The Iranian president joined the third meeting of the Council on High-Level Cooperation between Turkey and Iran in Ankara on Saturday after attending the summit of Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Turkish port city of Istanbul on Thursday and Friday.

The Turkish president said they would boost relations despite having differences on the Syrian crisis.

"Our countries should make efforts together in order to end bloodshed in our region. It's true that Turkey and Iran have some difference on regional issues, but we are in agreement to end blood in the region," Erdogan stated.

Rouhani, for his part, said his visit comes as sanctions on Iran are lifted, adding they laid ground to enhancing ties between two countries.

Banks of Turkey and Iran would boost ties as the Turkish banks can now open branches in Iran, he said, adding that Turkish and Iranian stock markets should also better cooperate.

Rouhani said they would encourage private investments for transportation, which he said would boost exports to third counties.

The two governments would also enable easier custom border crossings, he added.

Turkey and Iran would boost ties on energy, including natural gas, electricity and petrochemicals, Rouhani stated.

Ankara and Tehran should help regional countries, such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen, to achieve stability, the Iranian president said.

Turkey and Iran have been on opposing sides on Syrian crisis. Iran backs Syria's Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey insists to topple the Syrian president as part of any resolution of the conflict and supports rebels fighting to overthrow his regime. Endit