TURKEY-IRAN BUSINESS COUNCIL PREPARES FOR MARCH 11

S E C R E T ISTANBUL 000104 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS LONDON FOR GAYLE; BERLIN FOR PAETZOLD; BAKU FOR HAUGEN; DUBAI FOR IRPO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2023 TAGS: ECON ETRD PREL PGOV IR TU SUBJECT: TURKEY-IRAN BUSINESS COUNCIL PREPARES FOR MARCH 11 MEETING IN IRAN REF: (A) ANKARA 216 (B) ISTANBUL 56 Classified By: Acting Consul General Sandra Oudkirk; rwason 1.5 (d). ¶1. (S/NOFORN) Summary: An official from Turkey's "Foreign Economic Relations Board" (DEIK) shared with us the proposed schedule, agenda, and participants list for the March 11, 2008 meetings in Iran of the "7th Turkey-Iran Joint Business Council." Turkey's 60-person delegation will be led by Turkish Chamber of Commerce President Rifat Hisarcikliogu and will include GOT Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade official Sevket Ilgac. Turkey's delegation will also include representatives from up to 40 companies in the sectors of transportation, textiles, food, construction, and petrochemicals, including Gubretas Fertilizer Company, which recently purchased Iran's largest fertilizer plant for $618 million. Hisarciklioglu is scheduled to meet with Iranian Trade Minister Mirkazemi and Transportation Minister Rahmeti. The DEIK representative also revealed that at a recent DEIK executive meeting, some members recommended that Hisarciklioglu propose to GOI interlocutors that Iran deposit up to $500 million in Bank Mellat in Turkey, "to make it easier for Iran to pay for Turkish imports." Comment: Our DEIK contact defended the "moderating" benefits of expanding trade with Iran but expressed strong concern at the idea of DEIK officials working with Iran to skirt international sanctions. He offered to share a readout of the meetings on his return to Turkey in mid-March. End Comment. 7th Joint Turkey-Iran Business Council ========================== ¶2. (C/NOFORN) DEIK's Business Council coordinator responsible for managing the agenda of recurring Turkey-Iran Business Council meetings (please protect) described to Istanbul's "Iran Watcher" on February 29 the current state of planning for the next round of meetings of the "Joint Turkey-Iran Business Council", to be held March 11 in Tehran. He shared copies of the Turkish participants list (in English),the agenda (in Turkish),and the draft speaking notes (in Turkish) for the head of Turkey's delegation, Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the DEIK Board of Directors, Rifat Hisarciklioglu. ¶3. (C/NOFORN) According to the participants list, the Turkish side will also include: -- Ali Osman Ulusoy, Chairman of the Turkish-Iranian Business Council (see ref B) -- Riza Eser Amuzegar, Board member of the Turkish-Iranian Business Council (a dual Turkish/Iranian citizen, ref B). -- Ufuk Yilmaz, DEIK Director -- Sevket Ilgac, Director General, Directorate General for Agreements, Turkish Government Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade -- Mehmet Nurettin Ozdebir, Chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Industry -- Tamer Dincsahin, Chairman, International Transporters, Association of Turkey (and numerous association staff) -- Mehmet Serkan Sorguc, Coordinator for the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) -- Representatives from up to 40 Turkish companies in transportation, textiles, food, construction, tourism, automotive, heavy machinery, electronics, iron and steel, mining, and petrochemical sectors. ¶4. (C/NOFORN) Our contact pointed out that one of the companies participating is Gubre Fabrikalari (Gubretas Fertilizer Company). Gubretas secured Iranian government approval on February 24 to purchase Razi Petrochemical, Iran's largest fertilizer plant, for 462 million Euros. (Comment: Further details about Gubretas's purchase of Razi Petrochemicals is available in a February 26 posting on State's unclassified Iran Communities website: https://www.intellink.gov/state/IranWatch.) ¶5. (C/NOFORN) According to the draft schedule, the Joint Business Council meeting will take place on March 11, with March 10 and 12 devoted to sight-seeing and travel. The March 11 meeting includes morning presentations by Ali Osman Ulusoy, Sevket Ilgac, Rifat Hisarciklioglu, and Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Mines President Mohammed Nahavandian. According to Hisarciklioglu's draft speaking notes, his presentation will review the state of Turkish-Iran commerce, call on Iranian banks to improve their technical and technological capacity to allow for better cooperation with Turkish banks, encourage Iranian companies to import more Turkish goods, and urge that Iran do more to facilitate Turkish trucking into and through Iran, including by lowering transit fees, shortening the time spent at the border, and allowing Turkish truckers to buy tax-free petrol in Iran. On the afternoon of March 11, all of the participating company representatives on both sides (comment: our contact did not have a list of the participating Iranian companies) will meet in one session, while Hisarciklioglu will hold separate "small group" meetings with Iranian Minister of Trade Mahsoud Mirkazemi, Iranian Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammed Rahmati, and Iranian EXPO delegate Hamid Ghavam Shahidi. Following a closing dinner, the meetings will adjourn. Our contact suggested that before adjourning the two sides would likely agree on notional dates for the next -- 8th -- Joint Business Council meeting, probably to be held in Turkey towards the end of 2008. A Bank Mellat Connection? ========================= ¶6. (S/NOFORN) Our contact explained to us, with visible discomfort, that he had been present in a DEIK executive committee meeting (which included Ali Osman Ulusoy and Ufuk Yilmaz) some days earlier at which several DEIK officials complained to DEIK's leadership that increasing international scrutiny of Iran's financial system was negatively impacting Turkey's trade with Iran, including Iran's ability to buy Turkish goods. ¶7. (S/NOFORN) According to our contact, several DEIK officials recommended to Hisarcikliogu that in his March 11 meetings with Iranian Ministers, he recommend that Iran -- to facilitate its payments for Turkish products -- consider depositing up to $500 million in Bank Mellat branches in Turkey, and arrange for payment of Turkish imports through those domestic Turkish accounts, rather than via international bank transfers or letters of credit. Our contact said that Hisarciklioglu responded neutrally. Comment ======= ¶8. (S/NOFORN) In sharing this information with us, our contact explained that he supported the work of DEIK to facilitate expanded commercial contacts between Turkey and Iran, believing such contacts would have a "moderating" effect on Iran by integrating the Iranian economy more with western economies, forcing Iranian business and industrial sectors to accept more efficient, transparent, free-market-oriented principles and best practices. That said, our contact was agitated at the prospect of some DEIK officials actively recommending that DEIK try to skirt international sanctions on Iran purely out of profit motive. Our contact offered to share a readout of the March 11 meetings on his return from Tehran in mid-March. End Comment. OUDKIRK