ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed Turkey's willingness to further improve its bilateral relations with Pakistan.
Erdogan held a tete-a-tete meeting with PM Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, who is currently paying a state visit to Turkey. Electronic warfare and joint production of gunboat, tank and personnel carriers was on the agenda of the meeting, it was learned.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Aziz said that it was the most appropriate time to invest in Pakistan since the Pakistani government had allocated a 5 billion USD fund for investments. He invited Turkish businessmen to invest more in his country.
Referring to Turkey's EU process, PM Aziz expressed his satisfaction with the decision of the EU Council to open negotiations with Turkey on October 3rd.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Erdogan informed his guest on recent developments in Cyprus.
It was decided during the meeting that relevant ministers would deal with the issue of collection of debts of Turkish firms operating in Pakistan.
Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim and Justice Minister Cemil Cicek are expected to hold talks with their Pakistani counterparts in the coming days.
(UK-ULG)
2005-06-01