Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom In Ankara

ANKARA - Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom arrived in Ankara on Monday to hold contacts.
Speaking at Ankara's Esenboga Airport, Shalom said he would meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. He said Israel attributed great importance to further improvement of existing positive relations with Turkey in every field.
Shalom said Israel and Turkey, both being two democratic countries in the region and having joint values, at the same time face to face with joint difficulties, stating that Turkey and Israel were in close relations in economy, trade, tourism and telecommunication. He said they wanted to further increase current 1.2 billion U.S. dollars trade volume.
Speaking about the Middle East peace process, Shalom said they did their best to enliven negotiations and peace process with the Palestinian side, and that they attributed importance to the reforms which are currently being implemented by Palestine.
Shalom said if Palestine was serious, they could find Israel as a real partner for them.
(AY) 14.04.2003