ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a 24-hour visit to Syria upon an invitation of his Syrian counterpart Naji Otri, on April 26th.
He is going to attend first meeting of Turkey-Syria Economic Forum. The forum will take place on April 26th and 27th in Damascus, according to a written statement by Turkish Prime Ministry Press Office.
The statement said Erdogan would address the opening of the forum and meet Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and his Syrian counterpart Otri.
Syrian President Bashar al-Asad paid a visit to Ankara in the last quarter of 2007 and pledged to cooperate with Turkey in many areas, whereas Deputy Prime Minister al-Dardari visited Turkey after al-Asad and discussed economic topics.
During the forum in Damascus, Turkish and Syrian businessmen will discuss problems encountered in areas such as border crossings, banking, public tenders, investments, trade and highways.
Syria is ranked 63rd in national income per capita rating in the world, and 10th among Arab countries.
In January 2007 Syria put into force a number of facilities to simplify transactions and to draw more foreign investments.
Turkey and Syria enacted a free trade agreement in January 1st, 2007-- which speeded up bilateral relations. The two countries signed the said agreement during Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan`s visit to Syria on December 22nd-23rd, 2004.
(AY-ULG)