ANKARA - Turkish President Abdullah Gul will travel to Macedonia on Thursday to attend the Ohrid Summit that will convene presidents of central European states.
Gul will be the special guest of the 15th Meeting of Presidents of Central European States which will take place in Ohrid, Macedonia from May 1st to 3rd, President's Press Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
He is also scheduled to hold talks with several presidents at the summit.
On Saturday, Gul will proceed to Skopje where he will meet Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski to discuss regional and international issues, the statement said.
Turkish and Macedonian officials will sign a cooperation agreement on dealing with natural disasters during Gul's visit, it added.
Gul will return to Turkey on Sunday.
-OHRID SUMMIT 2008-
Turkish President Abdullah Gul and German President Horst Kohler will take part at the Ohrid Summit as guest presidents. Turkey will be represented for the first time at the summit of Central European Initiative (CEI) that will host presidents of 18 member states including, Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
CEI was established in 1989 as an intergovernmental forum for political, economic and cultural cooperation among its member states. One of CEI's main goals is to bring central and eastern European countries closer and assist them in their process for EU membership.
(TÇ-ULG)