Turkish Prime Minister Urges for Close Ties with Caucasus, Central Asia

(Tbilisi. April 11, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on April 10 Turkey had strong ties with the Caucasus and Central Asian countries stemming from history and assured that relations were not vulnerable to any threat.

Erdogan was addressing a meeting of representatives from the chambers of trade and industry of four Central Asian and Caucasian countries, the Turkish Daily News reports.

He said “bureaucratic obstacles are the biggest barrier for development of trade and economic cooperation among the regional countries.”

The Turkish Prime Minister also said that there has been considerable improvement in trade and economic cooperation between Turkey and the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus but added that there was still a lot to do as the level of cooperation was not yet satisfactory.