ANKARA - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer welcomed President Svetozar Marovic of Serbia and Montenegro in an official ceremony on Thursday.
Addressing the ceremony, Sezer said that Serbia-Montenegro and Turkey considered themselves as neighbours, adding that ''we attribute importance to keeping relations on friendship basis, we launch efforts to this end and the visit of Mr. Marovic constitutes one of the most meaningful steps of these efforts.''
Sezer said that Turkey praised the reforms and the reconstruction process undertaken in Serbia and Montenegro in the last three years, adding that the historical and cultural ties between the two countries and the existence of Turkish citizens of former Yugoslavian origin necessitated Turkey to closely monitor the developments in Serbia-Montenegro.
President Sezer noted that improvement of bilateral relations would contribute significantly to strengthening of peace and stability in the region, adding that Marovic's visit would be a good opportunity to determine the things that needed to be done to further improve the relations between the two countries.
Marovic said in his part that his contacts in Ankara and Istanbul carried great importance, noting that Turkey was one of the most active countries in the region and they would launch efforts to further improve bilateral relations in all fields.
Noting that there were no problems between the two countries, Marovic said that sharing same platforms in regional initiatives and integration with European institutions were the common targets of the two countries.
Recalling that he would meet with Turkish businessmen in Istanbul, Marovic said that he believed that this meeting would speed up improvement of bilateral relations.
(Öª-AÖ) 12.02.2004