Ankara, May 2, IRNA – Some statistical figures suggest that the new round of talks over Iran's nuclear program within the framework of G4+1 in Vienna has positively affected bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey.
Turkish Statistical Institute has recently released a report which shows an increase in Iran-Turkey trade over the past few months.
Turkey’s imports from Iran in the first quarter of 2021 stood at $581 billion while the figure used to be $283 billion in the same period last year, the report said.
Iran and Turkey experienced their golden time of trade some 10 years ago as bilateral trade between the two neighboring countries amounted to some $21.8 billion in 2012 but the figure began to reduce afterwards due to the imposition of tough sanctions on Iran.
The figure slashed to $14.5 billion in 2013 and $9.7 billion in 2015.
Although the lifting of sanctions partly offsetted the reduction of Iran-Turkey trade so that bilateral trade rose up to $10.7 billion in 2017, the re-imposition of the US unilateral sanctions against Iran in 2018 once again negatively affected the trade between Tehran and Ankara.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and a subsequent three-month blockade of Iran-Turkey borders added to the problem in a way that so that the bilateral trade between the two countries was lowered to $3.4 billion.
However, Iran-Turkey’s two-month trade in the past two months increased to $851 from $670 million in the same period last year which is largely seen as a direct outcome of recent nuclear talks in Vienna.
Expert believe that the progress of talks in Vienna and a probable imposition of sanctions on Iran could lead to a further growth in bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey.
