Turkey, Iran sign JEC protocol

Turkish State Minister Cevdet Yilmaz said that signing of the 21st Turkey-Iran Joint Economic Commission Protocol would add a new momentum to the existing cooperation relations between the two countries.

Yilmaz said at the signing ceremony, "during the meetings between Turkish and Iranian delegations, we have taken a series of decisions which will make valuable contributions to our bilateral relations with Iran."

"Measures to be taken to remove all obstacles in front of the bilateral trade were high on agenda of our talks," he said.

Yilmaz said that the protocol included a number of issues from agriculture to health, from industrial cooperation to labour and social security, from scientific and technological cooperation to environment, from culture and tourism to judicial cooperation.

He added that the next meeting of the joint economic commission would take place in Iranian capital Tehran in 2011.

Meanwhile, Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki of Iran signed the "Judicial Cooperation Agreement" prior to the signing of the protocol.

/World Bulletin/