Deal on sending Turkish goods to Qatar via Iran

A tripartite  agreement has been reached between Ankara, Doha and Tehran on the transfer of goods from Turkey to Qatar via Iran, Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci announced yesterday.“The verbal agreement will become an official agreement within days,” he added. In a statement to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, Zeybekci said he had recently met with Qatar’s Minister of Economy and Commerce HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani, and reached a verbal agreement on the transport of goods by road from Turkey to Iranian ports, and then transporting the trucks through Ro-Ro ships to  Qatar. He pointed out that a verbal agreement has also been reached with Iran, and that the agreement was expected to be transformed into a written text in the coming days.Ro-Ro ships (Roll-on/roll-off) ships are vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter. On Friday, the Turkish minister said that his country, along with the Qatar and Iran, wanted to reach a tripartite agreement on the issue of transferring Turkish products to Qatar in a practical and cost-effective manner.“The transfer by sea will be important, and we plan to send at least four large vessels to Qatar every month. The other alternative is to transport by land flexible and small packages, “said the Turkish minister, stressing at the same time that the transfer of some Turkish products will continue by air, especially fresh milk and chicken meat. Zeybekci, who held talks in Tehran on Saturday about opening up a link through Iran, told businessmen and industrialists that technical delegations would meet this week to discuss the plans. Turkey has been a strong supporter of Qatar in its dispute with its Gulf neighbours. Meanwhile the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the Qatar National Research Fund are to begin implementing the cyber security part of the agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed between both sides.