ANKARA - President Ahmet Necdet welcomed Romanian President Ion Iliescu in an official ceremony at Presidential Palace on Thursday.
Addressing the ceremony, Sezer said that there were good relations between Turkey and Romania which were based on mutual understanding and friendship, adding that the legal infrastructure of those relations were completed in a significant extent.
''We want to further improve our cooperation with Romania in bilateral and international aspect,'' said Sezer.
Noting that the cooperation in economy and trade constituted an important dimension of the bilateral relations, Sezer said that the bilateral trade was 1.2 billion dollars in the year 2002 and it was increasing in the year 2003.
Turkey monitored closely the positive developments in Romania in all fields Sezer said, adding that Turkey praised the steps taken by Romania to integrate with Europe.
Sezer stated that Turkey regarded Romania as a stability factor, a reliable friend in the Balkans and an ally in the near future, adding that improvement of cooperation between Turkey and Romania, two important countries of the region would contribute to formation of lasting peace and stability in the Balkans.
Sezer stated that all dimensions of bilateral relations would be taken up in their meetings with Iliescu, adding that they would also exchange views about regional and international developments.
Romanian President Iliescu said in his part that his visit was a sign of the good relations between the countries in the fields of politics, diplomacy, military, economy, culture and sports.
He said his visit was also a symbol of the Romanian people's solidarity with the Turkish nation who suffered from the attacks in Istanbul. Condemning the terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Iliescu said that they, as the friends and partners of Turkey, supported the measures taken against the attacks.
Iliescu stated that those who launched the attacks in Istanbul rejected values such as democracy, secularism, respect to differences and tolerance which were shared by Turkey and Romania.
Referring to the EU membership process of Turkey, Iliescu said that Romania supported the efforts of Turkey to integrate with the EU.
Iliescu said that they hoped Turkey to start negotiations with the EU next year, adding that giving a transparent perspective to Turkey about integration was to the interest of EU.
Iliescu noted that both countries supported peace and stability in the Balkans, Middle East and Black Sea.
Sezer said ''our relations and cooperation with Romania which will be our ally in NATO soon, are one of the pillars of regional stability and security.'' Sezer stated that they reviewed bilateral, regional and international developments in details with Iliescu, adding that they exchanged views to further improve cooperation in bilateral and international platform.
''The visit of Mr. Iliescu constituted a valuable basis to further explore the methods of improving relations in all fields. There have always been good relations between Turkey and Romania. There is no political problem between our countries and our views in regional and international issues coincide in great extent. Our trade volume in 2002 was 1.2 billion U.S. dollars. The investment of Turkish businessmen in Romania is almost 600 million dollars. Turkish businessmen regard Romania among top countries to make investment. We also focused on the possibilities to further improve our economic and commercial relations in a way to reflect the real potential of our countries,'' he said.
Sezer said that Iliescu also gave his book on ''Integration and Globalization: Romania'' adding that the book brought a regional perspective to concepts of integration and globalization, it assessed the new Europe plan in line with these two processes and it constituted a very valuable source.
Sezer said that he believed that the visit of Iliescu would contribute to further development of bilateral cooperation in every field on the basis of mutual confidence and understanding.
Iliescu said that Romanian people were in solidarity with Turkish people following the attacks in Istanbul and added that international society should fight against terrorism together.
Iliescu said that they, as a friend country, considered all the measures that Turkey took after the attacks positive. He added that Turkey and Romania had vital interests on restoring of peace and stability in the region.
Noting that terrorism rejected values such as democracy, freedom and secularism, Iliescu said that terrorism would be the most important threat of the 21st century if no measures were taken on time.
Iliescu said that Turkey and Romania which were open targets of terrorism in the Balkans and Black Sea regions should be in alliance and added that NATO would work more actively with the accession of Romania.
Noting that relations of two countries were perfect and there were no problems, Iliescu recalled that Romania would start visa procedures to Turkey within its EU membership. Noting that they would take necessary measures for preventing that to affect bilateral relations, Iliescu said that they supported Turkey's accession to EU. Iliescu said that presenting a concrete perspective to Turkey was for the interest of EU as well. He thanked Turkey for its support for Romania's accession to NATO.
(GC-Öª) 04.12.2003