Turkish President to visit Yemen to strengthen economic ties

SANA’A, Jan. 10 (Saba)- Turkish President Abdullah Gul is slated to pay an official visit on Monday to Yemen at the invitation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Gul will be accompanied by a large delegation, including Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul, Health Minister Recep Akdag, lawmakers, academicians, journalists and businesspeople. He will be the first Turkish president to visit Yemen. He will visit the Turkish cemetery built in Sana in memory of Turkish soldiers killed in Yemen and open a Turkish-Yemen vocational high school. Commerce between the two countries is expected to take center stage in the discussions, as the volume of Turkish trade in Yemen amounts to YR 7 billion. President Saleh and President Gul will discuss several regional and international issues, the National Yemen has reported. Also, the economic file and the economic and trade enhancement partnership will top the list of talks. The Turkish Ambassador in Sana’a Mohammed Dunmaz expressed his hopes that the talks taking place during this visit between the leaderships of the two countries will “yield good results for the two brotherly peoples.” He noted that the economic relations between the two countries are constantly developing, and said that efforts are being made to increase the volume of trade cooperation and exchange to one billion dollars in the future. He said that during this visit a number of agreements will be signed in the areas of support for Yemen’s development and investment, particularly in the field of food processing, and a Yemen-Turkey Business Council will be set up, which will give a strong boost to trade exchange and investment. In addition, an agreement between Sana’a University and the University of Ataturk in the field of university education will be signed, among other agreements between the two countries. The Yemen-Turkey relations have recently witnessed a major development, and statistics indicate that the trade volume rose significantly during the past three years. During 2007 the trade exchange volume has arrived at 36 billion 280 million riyals, and imports have won the largest share, while the Yemeni exports to Turkey have not exceeded 120 million riyals. Last year, the volume of exports has seen a significant rise where trade exchange volume last year increased to 72 billion riyals and Yemeni exports have increased in size to more than 800 million riyals, according to the latest statistics of the General Investment Authority. The Turkish investments until mid-December of this year have reached nearly 7 billion riyals distributed among the capital secretariat Sana’a and Marib in 15 projects in the area of tourist land transport, the Turkish Educational School, factories producing concrete and cutting marble, as well as other projects. Saba