Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ISTANBUL104
2008-03-03 13:23:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

TURKEY-IRAN BUSINESS COUNCIL PREPARES FOR MARCH 11

Tags:  ECON ETRD PREL PGOV IR TU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ3608
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIT #0104/01 0631323
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 031323Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7912
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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).

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