King Abdullah: Bilateral Relations Can Be Improved If Private Sectors Of Turkey And Jordan Also Cooperate

ISTANBUL - King Abdullah of Jordan said on Wednesday that bilateral relations could be further improved if Turkish and Jordanian private sectors also cooperated.
King Abdullah of Jordan attended a working breakfast held at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul by Turkish-Jordanian Business Council.
Abdullah said that Turkey and Jordan wanted to further improve relationship between private sectors.
They wanted to discuss how Turkish and Jordanian governments could make more joint investments and revive trade, Abdullah noted.
Abdullah stated that Jordanian officials had launched initiatives about policies and plans related with investments.
What the Jordanian officials were trying to do was to ensure a sustainable economic development, Abdullah said.
Abdullah pointed out that they wanted to ensure that sustainable economic development by investments of private sector.
Jordanian officials continued efforts to preserve and develop macro economic stability, Abdullah said.
Abdullah noted that Jordanian officials also wanted to continue their efforts to create new employment opportunities for Jordanian people.
What was important for the Jordanian officials was to restore an atmosphere which would attract especially foreign investments, Abdullah stressed.
Abdullah said that Jordanian officials were exerting special efforts about education and wanted to make significant investments in education in the following few years.
Jordanian officials wanted to improve curriculum, educate and train teachers and build new schools within 2005, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah noted that Jordanian officials tried to give vocational training in line with labor force needs like in Turkey.
King Abdullah of Jordan invited Turkish people to come and work in Jordan and train talented people.
Noting that privatization was one of issues to which his country attached great importance, Abdullah said that Jordan had launched significant infrastructure projects.
Abdullah stated that exports from Jordan rose by 25 percent in 2001, 15 percent in 2002 and 5 percent last year.
Although they thought that growth rate would be ''0'' in 2003 due to the Iraq war, the growth rate was recorded as 3.2 percent, Abdullah said.
Abdullah noted that this growth rate showed how stable Jordanian economy was and said that his country was trying to reach a growth rate of 6 percent in 2006.
Iraq was also an issue which would concern Turkish businessmen, Abdullah pointed out.
Abdullah said that Aqaba port had an important location in entering Iraq.
His country had launched initiatives to establish a free zone at the border and increase the capacity, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah said that his country had also launched initiatives to support the new Iraqi government and Turkish companies could make use of significant opportunities if they worked together with Jordanian partners.
Jordanian private sector had an important place and significant experience in Iraqi market, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah noted that Jordanian officials had prepared a list of all Jordanian companies that could work in Iraq and he could give the list to Turkish companies which were interested.
Stressing that private sector would develop economy, Abdullah said that he and his country would be pleased if Turkish officials informed them about ways to develop economy.
Abdullah pointed out that his country wanted to do its best and improve relationship between private sectors of Turkey and Jordan.
Bilateral relations between countries were developed by private sectors, not politicians, Abdullah said.
Stating that Turkey and Jordan had very good bilateral relations, Abdullah added that those good relations could be further improved if Turkish and Jordanian private sectors cooperated.
KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN SAYS IF THEY WANT A PROSPEROUS REGION, REGIONAL COUNTRIES SHOULD SOLVE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI DISPUTE (2)
Abdullah noted that moderate Muslims should stand against the extremists and show the whole world that those extremists did not represent the real Muslim belief.
The world was facing a terrorism problem, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah said that many countries were saying that they should fight against extremists and terrorism but only fighting with extremists and terrorism was not enough.
Countries should also eliminate reasons of extreme movements and terrorism in order to eradicate them, Abdullah pointed out.
King Abdullah of Jordan said that extremists and terrorists could find supporters due to Israeli-Palestinian dispute and noted that it was the most important issue for Arab and Muslim world.
Therefore, Abdullah stated, Palestinian issue should be solved.
Abdullah noted that if that issue was not solved, regional countries could not establish the Middle East they wanted.
Private sector knew the potential of the region more than many people, Abdullah said.
Abdullah noted that Israeli-Palestinian dispute should be solved in order to make use of that potential.
That issue was affecting everybody, the United States, Turkey and Jordan, Abdullah said. And, therefore, he noted, if regional countries really wanted a prosperous region, then they should solve Palestinian-Israeli dispute.
Abdullah said that if they could solve that issue, need for fight against terrorism would diminish by 70-80 percent.
Noting that there were problems the Islam was facing, Abdullah said that there was especially fight between moderates and extremists in Islam.
Abdullah noted that the silent majority should make its voice be heard and it could be achieved mostly by education.
Problems that Islam was facing was long-term problems, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah said that military wars might last for a few more years and efforts would be exerted to eradicate terrorist networks and freeze finance of the terrorist organizations.
But, the long-term problem was related with education, Abdullah pointed out.
Moderate Muslims should stand against the extremists and say them that the Koran and Islam were not telling them to do what they were doing, Abdullah said.
Abdullah noted that education might last more than ten years and said that maybe, it was the first time they were discussing those issues related with Islam.
But, those issues should be discussed, Abdullah stated.
Abdullah said that majority of Muslims should show the whole world that extremists did not represent the real Muslim belief.
King Abdullah of Jordan promised to make free trade agreement with Turkey in the future on behalf of himself and the government.
There were problems in some sectors in his country since Jordan was a smaller country, Abdullah said.
Abdullah noted that ministers would meet soon and they would discuss how flexible they could be.
They wanted to sign a free trade agreement with Turkey, Abdullah said.
Expressing hope that Turkish government would take into consideration some concerns of Jordan, Abdullah said that two countries could reach an agreement if everybody worked frankly and private sectors of two countries would be very pleased with that agreement.
Asked by one of the participants how many documents a Turkish company should get from Jordanian authorities in order to invest in Aqaba, Abdullah said that his country was trying to form Ireland's model and the government discussed that issue two weeks ago.
King Abdullah of Jordan said that his country would determine the procedures till the meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF) to be held in Aqaba in May.
Noting that his country would solve the issue till that meeting, Abdullah said that a foreign company would get approval of only one authority after Jordanian officials solved the issue.
STATE MINISTER TUZMEN: ''A NEW PERIOD HAS STARTED WITH JORDAN''
Tuzmen said that total annual imports by Jordan was four billion U.S. dollars although it was a small country. Noting that there were many goods that Turkey could sell to Jordan, Tuzmen said, ''they can supply eighty percent of the four billion dollars of imports from Turkey. Turkey can undertake a very important role in their imported products composition.''
Noting that investors in Turkey wanted to invest in Jordan, but there were several obstacles, Tuzmen stressed that Turkey and Jordan should sign a free trade agreement.
''They are scared of opening out to a big economy. However, we approach the issue with great good will. We force them to make a free trade deal in a way that won't damage their domestic economy. We can say that a new period has started. It is a very few trade volume, but the thing that paves the way will be a free trade agreement with an Arab country,'' he said.
Jordan's King Abdullah attended the meeting with Turkish businessmen together with a delegation including Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Dr. Mohammad Halaiqa and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Dr. Bassem Awadallah.
According to Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) statistics, total exports from Turkey to Jordan rose 19 percent to 135.9 million U.S. dollars while total exports from Jordan to Turkey dropped 26 percent to 13.4 million U.S. dollars.

KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN DEPARTS FROM TURKEY

ISTANBUL - King Abdullah of Jordan departed from Turkey on Wednesday.
King Abdullah of Jordan, his wife Queen Raina and accompanying delegation came to Turkey on Tuesday as the official guest of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer welcomed King Abdullah by an official ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Cankaya district of Ankara.
Addressing the ceremony, President Sezer said that Turkey and Jordan represented stability and modernization in the Middle East, adding that their cooperation which constituted an example to other countries would contribute to settlement of peace and stability in the region.
In the ceremony, King Abdullah of Jordan stressed that two countries should do their best to have the region advance on the path to peace.
Jordanian King Abdullah later proceeded from Ankara to Istanbul.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted dinner in Istanbul in honor of King Abdullah of Jordan.
Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez and Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher also participated in the dinner.
King Abdullah of Jordan attended a meeting held at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul by Turkish-Jordanian Business Council earlier in the day.
(BRC-AÖ) 17.03.2004