ISTANBUL - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Sunday that he saw during his meetings that stances of Turkey and Japan in international platform were largely coinciding with each other.
Wrapping up his meetings in Japan, Gul told reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that he had explained to the representatives of leading companies of Japan the investment milieu in Turkey and the changes in Turkish economic life in the last one year.
Gul said that he had also met with Turkish citizens who had been living in Japan and listened to their problems.
Noting that he saw during his meetings that stances of Turkey and Japan in international platform were largely coinciding with each other, Gul said that his interlocutors also had a strong desire to further develop the relations on every field. He added that he also saw that Japan and Turkey had a common understanding on carrying economic and commercial relations to a level which would reflect the real potential.
Gul said, ''we have discussed many issues that can be carried on together by Turkish and Japanese companies especially in reconstruction of Iraq and we saw that Japan has a big interest to this issue. Japan has reserved nearly five billion dollars of fund for the reconstruction of Iraq. I have told them that it will be good to evaluate this fund together.''
Noting that they had also discussed recent international developments, Gul said that they had exchanged views on the issues of Iraq, Middle East and international terrorism.
(GC-AÖ) 22.12.2003