Syrian prime minister to visit Turkey next week

News reports in Damascus said that the Syrian prime minister Naji al-Otari will pay a work visit to Turkey on the 13th of July in order to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Well-informed sources said that al-Otari will preside over a large official delegation including the ministers of irrigation, electricity, transport and tourism as well as the chairman of the state planning commission Abdullah al-Dardari.

Al-Oatri and Erdogan will be meeting in a plenary meeting and al-Otari will also meet with the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the speaker of the nation's council Polent Arneij and the foreign minister Abdullah Gul.

The sources said that another meeting will be held in Istanbul with the Turkish businessmen in the presence of representatives for the two chambers of commerce in Damascus and Aleppo.