ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Monday that Turkey and Syria should sign free trade agreement without losing any time in order to further develop their trade.
Turkish-Syrian Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting started in Ankara. Turkish delegation is chaired by State Minister Tuzmen and the Syrian delegation is headed by Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Ghassan al-Rifai.
Speaking in the meeting, Tuzmen expressed belief that the JEC Sixth Term Meeting would contribute to improvement of bilateral relations.
Tuzmen said that technical teams of Turkey and Syria held meetings on energy, health, industry, agriculture, tourism and culture prior to the JEC meeting.
The issues taken up in those meetings would determine the future road map of bilateral relations, Tuzmen noted.
Tuzmen emphasized that a free trade agreement should be signed between two countries to further improve economic and commercial relations.
Lifting obstacles in trade would develop reciprocal trade while the signing of a free trade agreement would contribute to regional trade, Tuzmen stated.
Tuzmen hoped that the first round talks on the free trade agreement would start as soon as possible.
Pointing to importance of the ''border trade centers project'' which was proposed by Turkey in order to increase economic activities in the cities lying across Turkey-Syria border, Tuzmen said that they hoped that technical teams of two countries would meet and the project would be put into practice till the end of the year.
Tuzmen said that Gaziantep Governor and Aleppo Governor would meet in coming days and contribute to their efforts.
One of the most important problems between two countries was transportation, Tuzmen stated.
Tuzmen pointed out that Syria should review the transit passage fee in favor of Turkey.
Drawing attention that Turkey did not get any fee from Syrian vehicles in reciprocal transportation, Tuzmen expressed belief that the same practice should also be valid for Turkish vehicles.
Tuzmen added that agreements on prevention of double taxation and encouragement of joint investments should be completed in the possible shortest time.
Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Ghassan al-Rifai said that they also wanted to sign free trade agreement with Turkey.
Al-Rifai stated that Miro would discuss the issues taken up in the JEC meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A free trade agreement would have positive impact on reciprocal trade between two countries, al-Rifai pointed out.
Al-Rifai said that technical teams of two countries should discuss issues in detail in order to prevent agreements which were not applicable and which stayed on the paper.
Encouragement of joint projects on water and irrigation and electricity network should be concluded soon, al-Rifai added.
(BRC-AÖ) 28.07.2003