Turkish president confers with Syrian premier
Syria-Turkey, Politics, 7/14/2004

President Ahmet Nacdet Sezer of Turkey on Tuesday received Prime Minister Naji Otari and the accompanying delegation.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the bilateral relations between the two countries and means of developing them, the situation in the region and issues of mutual interest.

The Turkish President stressed his county's support to the realization of peace and stability in the region, the restoration of the occupied Arab lands and achieving the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

He asserted that peace can't be comprehensive without the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

He stressed also the necessity to preserve Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty and to form an elected government that represents all the Iraqi people's walks of life.

Moreover, official talks between Syria Prime Minister otari and his Turkish counterpart Recip Tayyep Erdogan started in Ankara Tuesday in the presence of the two countries delegations.

Otari said the government, at the directives of President al-Assad, has given great priority to boosting cooperation between Syria and Turkey to reach the sought-for aims for their best benefits, particularly under international changing circumstances and changes and their various repercussions on the countries of the region.

He added that the talks in Ankara has special importance through firm relations that bind both countries, those relations which have been strengthened by the atmosphere of reciprocal trust and exchanging of officials and public visits, particularly the latest visit by President al-Assad to Turkey early this year.

The Premier added that what raises common concern is the deterioration of the situations in the region, particularly on the Palestinian and Iraq arenas where violence and chaos herald dire consequences on the security and stability of the whole region.

He stressed that establishing security and stability in the Middle East requires, more than ever, taking decisive measures and urgent steps to safeguard the unity of Iraq and end the foreign occupation as well as the achievement of the Palestinian legitimate rights.

Premier Otari stressed that the stability sought-for by the peoples of the region will not be complete unless just and comprehensive peace as called by as a strategic option has been established.

He called for upgrading the level of bilateral cooperation between the two friendly countries, pointing out that Syria and Turkey have all advantages to boost their trade, economic, tourist, culture cooperation.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan welcomed Premier Otari and the accompanying delegation at the start of official talks and highly appreciated the good relations between both neighboring countries. He said the leaderships in Syria and Turkey are keen to further develop the bilateral ties in various fields. He also pointed out to the coordination between the two countries regarding what is going on the regional arena, and to the identical points of view over maintaining Iraq's unity and restoration of the country's sovereignty.

Premier Erdogan stressed necessity of establishing just and comprehensive peace in the region and the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Arab lands and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights.The two sides later reviewed existing cooperation and means of further developing them as well as ways of overcoming the difficulties that might block the advancement of bilateral relations. The two sides also discussed prospects of future cooperation through extending existing fields of cooperation to include the setting up of a free trade zone, free agriculture zone, broadening prospects of cooperation in the fields of investments, finance and banking affairs and activating the role of businessmen and investors to increase annual trade exchange to 2 billion dollars over the next few years.

Previous Stories:
  Syria, Turkey for boosting trade relations   (7/12/2004)
  Syrian prime minister visits Turkey next Tuesday   (7/10/2004)
  Syrian- Turkish relations highlighted   (7/9/2004)

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