CAIRO (AA) - Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Public Works & Housing Minister Zeki Ergezen attended on Sunday the groundbreaking ceremony held for construction of the third terminal of the International Cairo Airport.
The terminal is being built by Turkish Tepe and Akfen Venture (TAV) consortium.
Speaking in the ceremony, Tuzmen said that the passenger capacity of the Cairo Airport would be increased from 9.5 to 21 million after the third terminal was opened.
Noting that the trade volume between Turkey and Egypt was 750 million USD, Tuzmen expressed two countries' willingness to increase the trade volume to 2 billion USD in the possible shortest time.
Tuzmen hoped to sign a free trade agreement with Egypt in 2005.
On the other hand, Ergezen said that this construction would contribute to commercial and economic relations between Turkey and Egypt.
70 percent of cost of the construction will be met by the World Bank, while the rest 30 percent will be financed by the Egyptian government.
TAV has committed to complete the construction within 833 days.
(BRC-֓)
2005-05-08