Turkish Justice Minister: Turkey And Egypt Should Improve Legal Relations

CAIRO - Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said on Saturday that Turkey and Egypt should increase reciprocal visits in order to further improve legal relations.
Cicek, who has completed his three-day visit to Egypt, told A.A correspondent that there might be problems if relations were not based on legal grounds.
Turkey and Egypt were two big countries of Islam world, Cicek noted.
Cicek said, ''Turkey has a population of 70 million and Egypt's population is 74 million. Therefore, improvement of relations between two countries is important for both the Islam world and the Middle East.''
He proposed Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Mohamed Ebeid to hold a meeting of ''Joint Economic Commission'' which had not convened for a long time, Cicek pointed out.
Cicek said that Ebeid promised to discuss that issue with the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Trade.
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak wished to further improve free trade between two countries, Cicek stated and stressed importance of April for development of free trade.
Touching on Mubarak's visit to Turkey, Cicek said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan planned to visit Egypt and that visit would be beneficial to bilateral relations.
Turkish Justice Minister Cicek arrived in Egyptian capital Cairo early on Tuesday for a three-day official visit upon his Egyptian counterpart Farouq Seif al-Nasr's invitation.
Cicek visited Egyptian acting chief prosecutor, acting chief judge of the Constitutional Court and chief judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals on Wednesday. He said that improvement of economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Egypt depended on judicial cooperation.
Turkish Justice Minister Cicek met with al-Nasr on Thursday. Two ministers discussed Turkish citizens convicted in Egypt and terrorism in their meeting. There are currently 32 Turkish citizens in Egypt convicted of drug smuggling. Sentences of 11 of them are expected to end soon.
Cicek will return to Turkey later in the day.
(BRC) 20.03.2004