Iran and Turkey go ahead with gas talks

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Minister of Oil Bijan Namdar Zanganeh have studied the Iran-Turkey gas dispute.
Trade relations between Tehran and Ankara have been damaged by a disagreement over the price of natural gas Turkey is importing from Iran under a 1996 deal. Turkey halted imports, complaining of poor quality and asking Iran to reduce the price.

Zanganeh and Erdogan exchanged views about joint venture deals in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors.
They agreed to proceed with talks about Iran's gas exports to Turkey. The two countries signed a 25-year, $ 30 bn contract in 1996 on the export of natural gas from the north-western Iranian city of Tabriz to Ankara. The contract went into effect in 2001.

Iran and Turkey have agreed to bring to $ 5 bn the volume of trade exchanges from a current $ 2.3 bn. According to official figures, trade between the two countries has increased dramatically in recent years, and was valued at $ 2.4 bn (EUR 2.0 bn) in 2003,a 90 % increase on the previous year.
The Turkish leader arrived for a two-day visit, accompanied by a high-level political and economic delegation including some 130 businessmen.