Iraq's Head Of State Says He Doesn't Want Visa Practice To Hamper Trade Relations

ANKARA - Iraq's Head of State Ghazi al-Yawer said on Tuesday that he did not want visa that Iraq would request from Turkish citizens to hamper trade relations with Turkey.
Attending a working breakfast hosted by Turkish-Iraqi Business Council in Ankara, al-Yawer said that his visit to Turkey was not coincidental and Turkey had a particular importance for his country.
Al-Yawer said, ''there are many areas we can cooperate with Turkey. We will start cooperation when stability is assured in our country.''
Recalling that some European countries fought with each other for years but then pooled their resources for their own economic interests, al-Yawer said, ''we need each other. We need strong and stable neighbors like Turkey. We want Turkey to become an EU member. Turkey deserves it. And, its membership will be for the benefit of our region because Turkey is an important country.''
Al-Yawer asked Turkish businessmen who wanted to invest in Iraq to employ as much as Iraqis as they could since rate of unemployment was very high in their country.
''When I look at Turkey, I see that democracy contributes to development of countries,'' al-Yawer said.
Referring to visa procedures Iraq wanted to impose, al-Yawer said that they needed to ask foreigners who wanted to visit their country to get visa before their trip in order to distinguish them from terrorists.
Al-Yawer added, ''but, we will never permit these visa procedures to hamper our trade relations.''
On the other hand, Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said that trade volume between two countries was currently around 2 billion U.S. dollars, and noted, ''around 1,000 Turkish businessmen continue working in Iraq.''
Tuzmen stated that Turkey and Iraq aimed to increase their trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, and said that two countries would open a second border pass as soon as possible.
''We support Iraq's integration with the world. We hope brother Iraqi nation to overcome these troublesome days in the possible shortest time. We want Iraqi people to increase their level of income. And, trade is obligatory to achieve this goal,'' Tuzmen added.
(BRC-AÖ) 17.08.2004