Companies in Iran are finding their way to the world economy through Turkey, developing strong trade ties in recent years, according to a Turkish business representative.

“Turkey is replacing Dubai for Iranian firms,” Bilgin Aygün, the vice chairman of Turkish-Iranian Business Council at Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, or DEİK, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday. “The best of Iranian firms penetrate world markets through Turkey,” he said, noting that cultural, historical and religious links go back hundreds of years as well as Iranian firms’ interest in Turkey.

“Many Iranian firms with warehouses in Dubai are now considering Turkey due to the geographical advantages it offers,” he said, adding that direct flights offered by Turkish Airlines to four Iranian cities have paved the way for business growth between the two countries.

According to figures from the Turkish Prime Ministry’s Undersecretariat of Treasury, the number of Iranian firms in Turkey reached to 1,470 by the end of last year. The figure for the years between 1954 and 2002 was only 319.

Source: here