Erdogan: Turkey, Egypt should lift visa requirement after votes

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that they should increase Turkey-Egypt trade volume to $5 billion in two years and up to $10 billion in four years.

"Today's talks with Egyptian authorities were very fruitful. We should hold the second Business Forum in Istanbul following the elections in Egypt," Prime Minister Erdogan said at Turkey-Egypt Business Forum in Cairo.

"While trade volumes of many countries narrowed in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis, Turkey-Egypt trade volume increased 15 percent to $3.2 billion in that year. In 2010, we succeeded in keeping our trade volume at the same level. And our trade volume increased to $2.3 billion in the seven months of 2011. Incidents in Egypt did not lead to any recession in our commercial relations," he said.

"However, these figures do not reflect our real potential. Turkey and Egypt have the necessary will and potential to increase their trade volume. We should increase Turkey-Egypt trade volume to $5 billion in two years and up to $10 billion in four years. I believe that we can reach this target easily by removing visa procedures between the two
countries following the elections in Egypt," he said.

Nearly 1,000 Egyptian businessmen and 280 Turkish investors were in attendance at the meeting.

"Record meetings":
Meanwhile, Turkish businesspeople held record number of talks during visit to Egypt.

Chairman of Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM), Mehmet Buyukeksi, said Thursday that more than 1,200 Egyptian businesspeople attended meetings with Turkish counterparts in Egypt on Wednesday.

Speaking to the AA, Buyukeksi said that Turkish businesspeople held more than 2,000 business meetings with 100 companies in Egypt on Wednesday.

Such a number of meetings was a record figure, Buyukeksi said.
Aside from the meetings, panel discussions took place on the construction sector, transportation and other investments, Buyukeksi said.

Turks' investments in Egypt are worth 1.5 billion USD. Trade potential between Turkey and Egypt is about 3.1 billion USD. We believe we can soon reach the trade volume of 5 billion USD as indicated by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. New Turkish investments in Egypt will boost Turkey's exports, Buyukeksi said.