Turkish Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz called his visit to Tehran 'constructive' and urged the raise of trade exchanges between the two countries to the amount of $35 billion annually, IRNA reports.

“The volume of trade exchange between Iran and Turkey exceeded $16 billion in 2011 and the two countries have the capacity to increase the volume of their trade exchange to $35 billion per year by 2015,” Yilmaz said in an interview with Anadolu News Agency.

Turkish Minister of Development, heading a large delegation of Turkish businessmen and industrialists and economic activists had a visit to Iran on May 21-22 and had meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian Vice President for International Affairs Ali Saeedlou as well as some Iranian economic activists.

President Ahmadinejad, in a meeting with Yilmaz said the two countries should use opportunities to deepen ties.