ANKARA - Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Trade Minister Dan Ioan Popescu of Romania signed on Wednesday Turkey-Romania Joint Economic Commission (JEC) protocol.
Tuzmen, speaking at the signing ceremony, said that Turkish businessmen considered Romania on the first rank among the countries to which they would make investments, adding, ''we attributed very much importance to the continuation of confidence milieu in here.''
Tuzmen said that the cooperation spirit between two countries was in the essence of relations but there was still an important potential which was not used.
Noting that the protocol reflected the desires of two countries, sharing common targets, to develop bilateral and regional cooperation, Tuzmen said that the protocol also included necessary measures to develop relations.
Tuzmen said that they did not want to be satisfied with 1.8 billion dollars of trade volume and with the Turkish investments in Romania more than 500 million dollars. He added, ''our target is cooperation between two countries and if necessary in third countries.''
Tuzmen stressed that the biggest responsibility would be undertaken by businessmen of two countries.
Popescu recalled that Turkey had supported Romania while it was joining NATO and said that Romania wanted to support Turkey similarly in its accession efforts to the European Union (EU).
Noting that it would be beneficial for Turkish and Romanian firms to work together, Popescu said that it was necessary to put cooperation into practice.
Popescu said that a Turkish trade delegation would visit Romania in September, adding that they would be pleased with that.
(GC-AY) 21.04.2004