ISTANBUL - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Tuesday that during the talks he had with the Islamic Development Bank, they stated that a new finance facility had to be created to Turkey, noting that, ''we signed an agreement to use 20 million U.S. dollars credit from the Islamic Development Bank within the framework of Eximbank. Our Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs) will be able to benefit from this credit.''
Tuzmen returned to Turkey after completing his contacts in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Tuzmen said nearly 120 Turkish businessmen participated in his visit.
Tuzmen said he met Saudi Arabian King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, pointing out that he had very fruitful contacts. Tuzmen said they exchanged views on prevention of double taxation, protection and promotion of investments, land transportation agreement and customs cooperation agreement.
Tuzmen said those agreements should be ready for signing till the Joint Economic Commission Meeting of next term.
Tuzmen said, ''we also focused on problems about contractors, customs and banking. There had been problems about repayments. We conveyed our views about the problems which vehicles met in Saudi Arabian customs, and exports of live animals to Saudi Arabia.''
Stating that a new commission had been set up in Saudi Arabia, Tuzmen said, ''I think a gate will be opened to Turkey pertaining to exports of live animals as a result of evaluations which the seven ministers of Saudi Arabia would hold among themselves.''
Tuzmen said they believed that this would be further improved in the coming period, and noted that, ''we can not adequately make use of the sources of Islamic Development Bank.''
Tuzmen said various joint investments could take place between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, noting that efforts should be accelerated in this respect.
(AY) 11.03.2003