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Iraqi president Jalal Talabani urges
Turkish investment
9.3.2008
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March 9, 2008
ANKARA, -- Iraq's President Jalal Talabani
Saturday urged Turkish businesses to invest
massively in Iraq during a visit also aimed at
easing tensions following Turkey's cross-border
offensive against Turkish-Kurdish PKK rebels.
"Our main goal with this visit is to have a
strategic, prolonged relation(ship) with Turkey on
all levels: economic,www.ekurd.net
trade, oil, political,
culture, everything," Talabani told Turkish business
leaders on his first trip to Turkey as head of
state.
"I can assure you that you have all kinds of support
facilities in Iraq, both in Iraqi Kurdistan (and) in
the south, in Baghdad," he said, on the second half
of a two-day visit to Turkey. |
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani (L) shakes hands
with Turkey's President Abdullah Gul (R) during a
news conference in Ankara March 7, 2008 |
The president's remarks came a day after Talabani
and Turkish President Abdullah Gul both vowed to
take measures against rebels from Turkey's Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), following a week-long ground
incursion by Ankara into Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq' that sharpened tensions between the two
countries.
"We are anxious to have our Turkish friends in Iraq
for many people, for mutual interest," Talabani
added.
The Iraqi president also cited "progress" in the
economy of his turmoil-torn country, saying his
finance minister Bayan Jabr Solagh "had in his hand
more than 25 billion dollars (16.2 billion euros)
for investment and for strategic projects."
Turkey's deputy minister for foreign trade, Kursda
Tuzmen, said after talks with Iraq's oil minister,
Hussein Shahristani, that the two neighbours would
conclude "an agreement for a stronger economic
partnership" by the end of May.
The accord would aim "to integrate the economies of
the two countries as much as possible to form a
common zone of prosperity," he said.
"Turkey's priority is to invest in the development
of Iraqi gas fields, for import and transit to
Europe," he said.
Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, who also met
Shahristani, spoke of plans to build a second
pipeline from Iraq's oil centre of Kirkuk to
Yumurtalik in southern Turkey.
The Iraqi minister for his part also urged Turkey to
invest in his country's energy sector, saying that
"Iraq can be a reliable supplier for Turkey."
Turkish exports to Iraq amounted to 2.82 billion
dollars last year, while Iraqi imports only came to
650 million, according to Turkish government
statistics.
Turkish businesses in Iraq, largely centered around
the construction sector, have amassed some 4.2
billion dollars in contracts since 2003.
Tuzmen predicted that two-way trade would total six
billion dollars this year and said the target was 20
billion by 2010.
AFP
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