ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left for South Korea on Saturday night.
Erdogan is accompanied by State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun, businessmen and journalists during his visit.
Speaking to reporters before his departure, Erdogan said that he would pay an official visit to South Korea as the guest of South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.
Noting that Turkey and South Korea were two countries which had traditional friendship relations since Korean War, Erdogan said that Turkey was launching efforts to further improve the bilateral relations in all fields.
Erdogan stated that the approaches of the two countries in the international field coincided with each other, adding that he would meet with South Korean President, Parliament Speaker and Seoul mayor during his stay.
``Improving political, economic cooperation and cooperation in other fields is an important issue which is on our agenda. We will take up fight with terrorism, Iraqi issue and international and regional issues. The big potential between the two countries in economic cooperation constitutes a favourable environment to make cooperation with third countries. The number of South Korean companies acting in our country is 30, we expect these companies to further increase in number and also increase their investments,`` said Erdogan.
Erdogan stated that Turkish-South Korean Business Council would convene for the first time after five years to increase bilateral trade volume and to assess investment opportunities during his visit. Erdogan stated that he would also go to Pusan city to visit the graveyards of Turkish soldiers who died in Korean War.
He said he wished his visit to speed up the relations with South Korea.
Upon a question about Annan`s letter, Erdogan said that ``all the necessary steps are being taken with good will and sincerity. Everybody knows his mission and all studies are carried out within the scope of this responsibility. Everything is carried out in a common attitude and all negotiations aim at that. Evaluations are being made together with TRNC and steps are taken according to that.``
ERDOGAN RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ABOARD PLANE TO SEOUL
Speaking to reporters aboard the plane to Seoul, Erdogan assessed his visit to South Korea.
``South Korea has joint investments in various parts of the world and it has also some investments in Turkey. One of them is Hyundai, we want to meet with South Korean investors to further increase their investments in Turkey. Turkey imports many products from South Korea, but our export to this country is insignificant. We must meet this deficit, so we attribute very much importance to this visit. Certainly there is a friendship between the two countries which was formed after the Korean War. We want to improve this friendship by economic and commercial steps,`` Erdogan said.
Upon a question about local elections that would be held on March 28, Erdogan said that he believed his party would get more votes than the ones it got during Nov. 3 elections in 2002.
(Öª) 08.02.2004