Iran and Turkey discuss bilateral cooperation

Visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Esmail Cem in a meeting with President Mohammad Khatami discussed the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. President Khatami in the meeting commented on the strategic location of Turkey and said improved cooperation between Iran and Turkey would positively influence the developments in the region and in the world.
The president stressed the necessity for the two neighbours to expand the bilateral cooperation in the various fields, in particular in the security, political and economic areas. President Khatami pointed to the gigantic project of transferring Iran's gas to Turkey and said if developed, the project could provide the European countries with the Iranian gas.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he commented on the dialogue amongst the civilizations and said the dialogue is intended to replace the conflict among the nations by making a sustainable peace among them. Civilized nations could play a crucial part in this connection, he added. Turkish foreign minister conveyed warm greetings of Turkey's president to Iran's President and said the good relations between Iran and Turkey is an example to be followed by other states.

Cem stated that the Turkish officials are deeply interested in boosting ties with Iran. He termed as "very positive" his talks with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi and hoped that the exchange of delegations between Iran and Turkey would contribute to reinforcement of the bilateral ties which would preserve the two sides' interests.
Cem said the Turkish business people show strong desire to bring their presence in Iran and said the cooperation between the private sectors of the two states would widen the horizons for the Tehran-Ankara cooperation. Cem said the dialogue amongst the civilizations would be able to do away with the negative aspects of globalisation phenomenon and would ease the global conflict which has been raging throughout the past century.