ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen has said, ''we have reached a consensus of opinion with Syrian officials about signing the Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and Syria till the end of the year.''
Replying to questions of journalists about his visit to Syria between March 4 and 7, 2004 aiming to further improve economic and commercial relations between the two neighboring countries, Tuzmen said on Monday, ''during our visit to Syria, we signed a memorandum of understanding envisaging further development of economic and commercial co-operation between Turkey and Syria, and a document about schedule for the Free Trade Agreement.''
''I was received by President Bashar al-Assad and Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Utri of Syria during my visit to Damascus. Also, I had the opportunity of holding talks with Syrian Trade Minister and Turkey-Syria Joint Economic Commission co-President Ghassan al-Rifai besides Syrian ministers of transportation, housing and construction, finance, oil, electricity, industry, agriculture, irrigation and tourism,'' he said.
Tuzmen noted, ''during the visit, we have reached a consensus of opinion with Syrian officials about signing the Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and Syria till the end of the year. We have formed a joint committee to carry out necessary works to this end. The committee will hold its first meeting in Ankara between April 26 and 28, 2004. The Free Trade Agreement will increase the trade volume between our countries, which was about 800 million U.S. dollars in 2003, up to 2 billion U.S. dollars in the possible shortest period.''
''The issues of establishment of border trade centers, sweeping anti-personnel land-mines in border region between Turkey and Syria and opening those fields to organic agriculture, and development of transportation. banking, tourism and energy sectors were discussed during our meetings with Syrian officials,'' he said.
Recalling that President al-Assad of Syria, during his visit to Turkey in January, wanted to benefit from Turkey's experiences in setting up their stock exchange, Tuzmen said that a Syrian delegation would come to Turkey in the coming days to this end.
Stressing that Turkey and Syria taking place in an extremely sensitive geography, had been sharing a common history and cultural values, Tuzmen added, ''if we can combine our economic and commercial advantages and develop a cross-border policy, we can help efforts to provide stability in the region.''
(UK-AÖ) 08.03.2004