Tuzmen Says Trade Between Turkey And Greece Will Exceed 1 Billion U.S. Dollars This Year

ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Tuesday that trade between Turkey and Greece would exceed 1 billion U.S. dollars this year.
Tuzmen met with Greek National Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Khristodoulakis.
In the meeting, Tuzmen said that they aimed to reach a trade volume of 2 billion U.s. dollars between two countries in 2004 and stressed that their target could be achieved with efforts of public and private sectors.
Tuzmen noted that there were complementary economies between Turkey and Greece.
The agreement on prevention of double taxation which would be signed today would increase trade volume between two countries, Tuzmen stated.
Tuzmen drew attention to reciprocal increase of investments.
Noting that 67 Greek companies were working in Turkey and 7-8 Turkish companies were functioning in Greece, Tuzmen said that they expected those numbers to increase in following days.
Khristodoulakis said that economic potential between the two countries was low at the moment but relations started to improve rapidly in recent years.
Noting that relations would continue to improve, Khristodoulakis said that relations between private sectors of two countries should also be developed.
Khristodoulakis stated that Turkey and Greece could make regional cooperation and work together in third countries.
When trade volume was being increased, balance should also be ensured, Khristodoulakis added.
(BRC-AÖ) 02.12.2003