ISTANBUL - Turkey plans to open a foreign trade office in Ramallah, Palestine in a couple of weeks, Turkey's foreign trade minister said on Tuesday.
Zafer Caglayan, Turkish State Minister for foreign trade, delivered a speech at the Palestine Business Forum in Istanbul, and said that trade between Turkey and Palestine was around $29 million, 90 percent of which was Turkish exports.
Reminding the free trade agreement signed between Turkey and Palestine, Caglayan also called on Turkish businessmen to take responsibility and invest in Palestine.
Recalling that Turkish companies were shipping products to Palestine through Israel because of Israeli embargo on Gaza, Caglayan said Turkey's office in Ramallah was a first, in a move to make bilateral trade official. He said Turkey's aim was not to by-pass Israel.
On May 31, a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships, led by Mavi Marmara, tried to break the Gaza blockade. Ships were raided by Israeli commandos who killed eight Turks and an American of Turkish origin on board, Caglayan recalled.
"Turkish people's hearts beat as one with their Palestinian brothers and sisters. Turkey's fate is as the same as Palestine's," Caglayan said.
"We will never turn our back on Palestine. We will never remain silent and we will never give up speaking out for Gaza," he added.