Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said Tuesday that Turkey has set up a five-year objective to increase its trade volume with Saudi Arabia to $15 billion, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. “The trade volume between the two countries was around $4.6 billion in the first nine months of 2008, with a 69 percent rise over the same period of 2007,” Unakitan was quoted assaying during a meeting of a joint economic committee between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Unakitan said the year-end bilateral trade volume would be around $5 billion and expressed determination to raise the figure to $15 billion in five years. “It is important to boost cooperation and increase trade between our two countries,” he said, adding that the trade volume could be raised by mutual investments, and Turkey welcomes Saudi companies to invest in Turkey. “The opening the Istanbul-Makkah railway in the near future would definitely improve trade relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia,” he said. Meanwhile, the minister hoped a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council consisting of six Gulf Arab countries should be signed as soon as possible, and that an agreement on trade of goods should also be concluded. The ninth session of the Saudi-Turkish joint commission ended its deliberations, here on Wednesday. The Saudi delegation to the meeting was led by Dr Jubara Al-Sireisiri, the Minister of Transport. Speaking on the occasion, Turkish Finance Minister Kamal Onakitan said the joint commission is concerned with boosting trade exchange between the Kingdom and Turkey. He noted that the views of the two countries were identical as regards removing the obstacles that might impede developing of bilateral relations in all domains. It is high time for implementing great projects in the light of the existing reciprocal confidence in the field of joint investments in the two countries, he said. For his part, Al-Sireisiri underlined the importance of exchange of visits by the officials of the two countries for activating the agreements signed by them and finalizing the agreements which are under study. He reiterated the keenness of the two countries on further cementing the bilateral relations. Later the two sides listened to a lecture on the available investment opportunities in Turkey. The final session was attended by Saudi ambassador to Turkey Mohammed Bin Raja Al-Husseini and a number of officials and businessmen from Turkey.
