Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani have agreed to strengthen economic ties and cooperate in the fight against "terrorism".
Their meeting on Saturday in Erdogan's palace near the Turkish capital Ankara came a day after Iran was accused of supporting armed groups and interfering in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries, including Syria and Yemen, at a summit of Muslim heads of state in Istanbul.
In a joint press conference on Saturday, Erdogan said Turkey and Iran must collaborate to narrow their differences in order to tackle violence and sectarianism in the region.
"It is above all in our own countries' interest to strengthen our political dialogue and reduce our differences of opinion to a minimum," Erdogan said.
"We have to work together to overcome the problems of terrorism and sectarianism and the related humanitarian crises that are shaking our region," he added.
"The situation is ripe for cooperation between Turkey and Iran in the post-sanctions era," Rouhani said at the news conference.
"The most important part is closer ties between banks and credit lines. We decided to improve banking relations.
"Turkish banks can now establish branches in Iran to help facilitate economic relations between the two countries," he added.
Despite their rapprochement, Turkey and Iran remain on opposing sides of several fronts, including the civil war in Syria.
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