Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of Staff of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, arrived in Ankara on Thursday for a one-day visit to deliver President Rouhani’s message to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Vaezi met and talked with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday to discuss the issues of mutual interest, especially economic relations.
During the meeting, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu expressed his happiness with Vaezi’s visit in order to discuss ways to develop bilateral cooperation, emphasizing “ we do not consider sanctions and pressures on Iran as appropriate and acceptable and we publicly declare this everywhere in bilateral meetings, and we explain how such actions threaten peace in the region.”
The Turkish foreign minister expressed his appreciation for "Iran's moderate and wise stances on various issues, including the issue of US withdrawal from the JCPOA," adding that continuing cooperation on the part of Iran with the European Union deserves appreciation.
He said "we have explicitly announced that we will not abide by the recent unilateral US sanctions against Iran."
He then described the US sanctions against two Turkish ministers as ‘futile,’ stressing that “Turkey believes in diplomacy as the solution to solve problems.”
Çavuşoğlu further said “our government has just been formed and in the near future the minister of the Joint Commission will be appointed and negotiations within the framework of the joint commissions will soon start.”
He noted that Turkish businessmen are interested in working and investing in Iran, stressing the need for more opportunities to be offered to further attract them.
Referring to the complicated regional issues, he stressed the need for strengthening the two countries' cooperation, saying “strengthening the relations between Iran and Turkey will result in stability and security in the region.”
Mahmoud Vaezi, for his part, expressed his happiness with the two countries' leaders recent move in outlining a roadmap to reach the $ 30 billion business target, saying that the two countries are expanding bilateral relations in every field.
Vaez also praised President Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu 's brave stances on unilateral US sanctions, adding “the Europeans Union and European countries are determined to keep the JCPOA alive and they have offered us (Iran) some proposals in banking and oil sectors.”
He also expressed his happiness on behalf of Iranian government with Astana and Sochi talks, calling for intensifying efforts to resolve Syria’s problems.
Chief of Staff of Iran's president continued "through bilateral cooperation, we can take very important steps to secure and consolidate peace and stability in the region."
He added “we welcome the willingness of Turkish businessmen to trade and invest in Iran and we must intensify efforts to overcome obstacles and problems on both sides of the border.”
“Facilitating banking co-operation helps strengthen the commercial and economic cooperation,” he continued.
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