Coskun Says Turkish - Syrian Relations Important For Middle East

DAMASCUS - Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun said on Saturday that Turkish-Syrian relations were of great importance in the Middle East.
Coskun visited the Syrian Industry Ministry, and attended the meeting of Turkish-Syrian Business Council on the first day of his visit to Syrian capital of Damascus.
In his meetings, Coskun said, ''as Turkey, we have opened all our doors to Syria. We want to further improve our relations, taking into consideration both our interests and those of Syria. If we can lift bureaucratic hurdles as statesmen and if businessmen can further improve bilateral relations, we can economically progress.''
Stressing importance of implementation of agreements signed between the two countries, Coskun said that preparing an action plan and forming a monitoring committee would be beneficial.
Coskun added that Turkey aimed to increase its trade volume with Syria from 1 to 3 billion U.S. dollars.
On the other hand, Syrian Minister of Industry Ghassan Tayyarah said that his country wished to have an efficient cooperation between his and Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade.
(BRC) 23.10.2004