ISTANBUL
Turkey wants to increase trade with Iran to US$30 billion by the end of 2015.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that sanctions against Iran had caused trade volume between the two countries to plummet 35 percent to $13.5 billion in 2013.
"We aim to reach $30 billion by the end of 2015," Erdogan told journalists before leaving for Germany on a working visit.
Stiff economic sanctions were placed on Iran in 2006 as Western powers tried to pressure it into giving up the suspected development of nuclear weapons.
Iran's oil exports and banks came under additional sanctions from the United States and European Union in 2012.
Erdogan - who has recently returned from Iran - said tax reductions on both sides would boost import and export figures "creating a win-win situation".
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