TOBB ACTING CHAIRMAN YAVUZ: ''ARBITRARY PRACTICES IN NORTH OF IRAQ IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES IN FRONT OF TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS''

ANKARA - Officials of the Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) met on Wednesday with the delegation of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) at a luncheon.
The delegation was chaired by deputy chairman Mohammad Fakih Al Mevla as Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, the Chairman of SCIRI, caught cold and could not attend the meetings.
Speaking before the luncheon, Mevla said although Iraq was a rich country, it has been suffering from poverty today because of Saddam regime. He said they waited for the aid of the international community in every areas.
Stating that they were trying to set up a new democratic system in Iraq, Mevla said they would not exclude any group in the country within this process.
Mevla said they did not want Iraq to be a base for terrorists to launch attacks to neighboring countries, stressing that they wanted to set up positive relations with neighboring countries.
Mevla said they would prefer Turkey rather than foreign countries in restructuring of Iraq as Turkey was a neighboring and Moslem country.
Mevla said they were ready to increase number of lorries from three thousand to four thousand making transportation between the two countries.
TOBB Acting Chairman Faik Yavuz in his part mentioned the problems of the Turkish companies acting in Iraq. Yavuz listed the problems as failure in getting healthy information about trade and construction services, failure in providing full order, and as a safe payment system could not be settled in commercial activities of ministries in Iraq.
Yavuz said arbitrary practices in north of Iraq was one of the biggest obstacles in transportation of goods.
Wishing this problems to be solved soon, Yavuz said TOBB would send a delegation to Iraq soon. Yavuz said they wanted to undertake a role in normalization process of Iraq, and stressed the importance of improvement of private sector and settlement of market economy.
(AY) 14.01.2004