CHANIA - Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said on Saturday that bilateral economic relations could be developed by eliminating the difficulties which businessmen faced.
Hisarciklioglu delivered a speech during the Fifth Aegean Coasts of Turkey and Greek Islands Economic Summit held in Chania, Greece.
He said that bilateral economic relations could be developed by eliminating the difficulties which businessmen faced and recalled that an important decision would be taken regarding Turkey's membership to the European Union (EU) at the end of 2004.
Hisarciklioglu said, ''we expect a decision to open negotiations with Turkey will be taken. We believe that Greece will have serious contribution to such a positive decision. Turkey's progress in full membership to EU will be effective in solution of Cyprus and Aegean problems.''
Izmir Chamber of Commerce (IZTO) Executive Board Chairman Ekrem Demirtas said that they ensured confidence between businessmen of two countries and added that they could discuss trade and joint investments on the same table now.
Noting that the trade volume between two countries in 1998 was nearly 200 million U.S. dollars, Demirtas said that this figure was nearly one billion dollars today and they targeted at reaching two billion dollars of trade volume within four years.
(GC-BRC) 27.09.2003