COSKUN: ''TURKEY'S COMPANIES EXPORTING TO ALGERIA HAVE PROBLEMS''
ANKARA - ''Turkish exporters have serious problems because of prices asked in customs in Algeria. Special permits were asked for goods of Turkish origin,'' Turkish Industry & Trade Minister Ali Coskun said on Wednesday.
Turkish-Algerian Joint Economic Commission's (JEC) 8th meeting started with the participation of Coskun and Algerian Energy & Mining Minister Chekib Khalil.
Taking the floor at the meeting Coskun said, ''Turkey attaches importance to western African countries, mainly Algeria which it considered as gate of Africa,'' and noted that Turkey signed a Free Trade Agreement with Morocco in April and completed negotiations with Tunisia. He said Algeria cannot be excluded from this framework.
Coskun said trade volume between Turkey and Algeria, which had been around 400 million U.S. dollars in 1995, reached 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2003.
Coskun said Turkey proposed new agreements in areas like oil exploration, however problems in bilateral commercial relations persist.
''Turkish companies exporting to Algeria have serious problems about prices asked in customs. Special imports permits were asked for goods of Turkish origin,'' Coskun said, stressing that, ''this permission is not asked for EU goods and Turkey is a member of the EU Customs Union since 1996.''
Pointing to the importance of Turkish contractor firms in Turkish-Algerian economic relations, Coskun said, ''10 Turkish contractors actually do business in Algeria. Turkish and Algerian contractor companies may form joint ventures and do business in third countries as well.''
Coskun said bids submitted by Turkish companies in some tenders in Algeria were rejected although they were good, stressing that, ''we call for the attention of the Algerian minister on this issue. We want executives of banks and contractors to meet and form a study group.''
''Studies completed in agriculture and fishing areas. A special study group can also be formed on agriculture. Studies can be carried out in maritime and transportation. We want joint maritime committee to convene. 21 free zones exist in Turkey. We are ready to give service to Algeria in this respect too,'' Coskun said.
Stressing that Turkey would be pleased to share its experience on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises with Algeria, Coskun said, ''we are ready to cooperate as regards small and medium scale enterprises. We want Turkish-Algerian Business Council to convene regularly.''
Coskun said, ''we wish reciprocal visits between the delegations of the two countries to continue,'' stating that, ''we are ready to cooperate in health, education, culture and many other areas.''
Algerian Minister Khalil in his part said bilateral relations were below the desired level, and noted that, ''although economic relations are low, Turkey exported goods worth of 500 million U.S. dollars to Algeria in 2002 and imported goods worth of one billion U.S. dollars.''
Algerian Minister said Turkish contractors have a business volume of 500 million U.S. dollars in Algeria, stressing that this could be increased.
(AY-ULG) 22.09.2004