ANKARA - Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin has said that settlement of a long-term and deeper cooperation between Turkey and Kazakhstan in every field constituted the basis of their policies.
Turkey-Kazakhstan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting started in Ankara on Monday. Aydin heads the Turkish delegation while Kazakh Education and Science Minister Zhaksybek Kulekeyev heads the Kazakh delegation in the meeting.
Making opening remarks of the meeting, Aydin said that Turkey stood by Kazakhstan in its fight in every field, which it considered a requirement of the culture it had and the geography it was situated on.
Stressing that the number of companies having Turkish capital in Kazakhstan rose to 130 and total Turkish investments in this country increased over to 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, Aydin said Turkey was the fourth biggest foreign country in Kazakhstan in terms of capital.
Noting that Turkish companies were operating in hotel management, oil exploration and drilling, communications and banking fields, Aydin said that Turkish contractors made investments in Kazakhstan.
Stressing that bilateral trade volume was not sufficient, Aydin said, ''settlement of a long-term and deeper cooperation between Turkey and Kazakhstan in every field constitutes the basis of our policies.''
Aydin added that efforts were under way on transfer of a part of Kazakh oil to international markets via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route.
Meanwhile, Kulekeyev said that legal basis between the two countries had been formed after Kazakhstan had acquired its independence and that there was not any situation that might obstruct bilateral relations in the future.
Kulekeyev added that commercial and economic relations and a long-term and deeper cooperation between Turkey and Kazakhstan would further improve in the future.
(MS-AÖ) 03.05.2004