21 December 2009 / SÜLEYMAN KURT, ANKARA
President Abdullah Gül is visiting the current term chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait, today to enhance cooperation in every sphere and review the current state of the bilateral relations, a presidency press statement said on Sunday.
Along with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, many businessmen also accompanied the president during his trip to this oil-rich country neighboring war-torn Iraq. Visiting Kuwait, which took over the rotating presidency of the GCC on Dec. 15, is not only crucial to bilateral relations with Kuwait but also to relations with the five other members of the Gulf’s largest intergovernmental body, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain. Works have been under way to clinch a Free Trade Agreement deal between Turkey and the GCC for almost four years. Turkey’s trade volume with the GCC countries was around $2 billion in 2002 but has recorded an enormous increase to $17 billion in 2009.President Gül will speak at the business forum in which businessmen from both countries will participate during his two-day visit. Turkey signed a Strategic Dialogue agreement with the GCC in Jeddah in 2008, to boost political and economic relations and to open a new page with these countries. The foreign ministers of the GCC met in İstanbul in July this year to clarify relations and ease the process of trade between these countries. The foreign ministers also reportedly discussed the railways and highways that would connect the Gulf countries with the EU.
