Gul Starts His Meetings In Bahrain

MANAMA (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul met Bahraini Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad bin Mubarak Al Khalifa on Monday.
     Gul told a joint news conference with Al Khalifa that Turkey attributed very much importance to relations with the Gulf countries.
     Noting that they discussed political and economic relations (between the two countries) and regional issues with the Bahraini foreign minister, Gul said that the agreement signed with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was the sign that all sorts of legal works regarding economic relations with Bahrain were about to finish.
     Stressing that the two countries took steps to ease reciprocal visits of their citizens, Gul said that citizens of all Gulf countries would get visas from Turkey at the border gates under the unilateral decision taken by Turkey.
     When an Arab journalist asked Gul to comment on the result of the French referendum on EU Constitution, Gul said that the issue didn't directly concern Turkey and that there was no impediment for Turkey to start entry talks with the EU.
     Meanwhile, Bahraini Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad bin Mubarak Al Khalifa said in his part that they were pleased with the improvement of relations between the two countries and with Turkey's policies about Arab and Islamic world.
     When asked about Bahrain's policy about Cyprus, the Bahraini foreign minister said that Bahrain, which was a member of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), agreed with the decision of OIC which aimed to improve cooperation with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). He added that they also planned to invite TRNC Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas to Bahrain.
    
     -AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES-
    
     Meanwhile, Turkey and Bahrain, the term president of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have signed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement which will constitute the first step of signing of a Free Trade Agreement (within the scope of EU customs union) and a memorandum of understanding on simplification of visa proceedings and bringing reciprocal visa exemption for diplomatic and special passports.
     Diplomatic sources said that Turkey attributed importance to relations with GCC as a whole rather than individual countries.
     After the news conference, Gul was received by Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa. The Bahraini Prime Minister told in the meeting that Bahrain appreciated the efforts of Turkey for improvement of security and stability in the region.
     Meanwhile, local newspapers have also shown great interest in Foreign Minister Gul's visit to Bahrain.
     (֓-MS)
2005-05-30