Iraqi president urges Turkish investment
ANKARA (AFP) — Iraq's President Jalal Talabani Saturday urged Turkish businesses to invest massively in Iraq during a visit also aimed at easing tensions following Turkey's cross-border offensive against PKK rebels.
"Our main goal with this visit is to have a strategic, prolonged relation(ship) with Turkey on all levels: economic, trade, oil, political, culture, everything," Talabani told Turkish business leaders on his first trip to Turkey as head of state.
"I can assure you that you have all kinds of support facilities in Iraq, both in Iraqi Kurdistan (and) in the south, in Baghdad," he said, on the second half of a two-day visit to Turkey.
The president's remarks came a day after Talabani and Turkish President Abdullah Gul both vowed to take measures against rebels from Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), following a week-long ground incursion by Ankara into northern Iraq that sharpened tensions between the two countries.
"We are anxious to have our Turkish friends in Iraq for many people, for mutual interest," Talabani added.
The Iraqi president also cited "progress" in the economy of his turmoil-torn country, saying his finance minister Bayan Jabr Solagh "had in his hand more than 25 billion dollars (16.2 billion euros) for investment and for strategic projects."
Turkey's deputy minister for foreign trade, Kursda Tuzmen, said after talks with Iraq's oil minister, Hussein Shahristani, that the two neighbours would conclude "an agreement for a stronger economic partnership" by the end of May.
The accord would aim "to integrate the economies of the two countries as much as possible to form a common zone of prosperity," he said.
"Turkey's priority is to invest in the development of Iraqi gas fields, for import and transit to Europe," he said.
Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, who also met Shahristani, spoke of plans to build a second pipeline from Iraq's oil centre of Kirkuk to Yumurtalik in southern Turkey.
The Iraqi minister for his part also urged Turkey to invest in his country's energy sector, saying that "Iraq can be a reliable supplier for Turkey."
Turkish exports to Iraq amounted to 2.82 billion dollars last year, while Iraqi imports only came to 650 million, according to Turkish government statistics.
Turkish businesses in Iraq, largely centered around the construction sector, have amassed some 4.2 billion dollars in contracts since 2003.
Tuzmen predicted that two-way trade would total six billion dollars this year and said the target was 20 billion by 2010.
