By NNN-SANA
Istanbul : Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Affairs Kursad Tuzmen expected Friday to double volume of trade exchange between Syria and Turkey by the end of this year to reach 2 billion dollars.
“For the first time the volume of trade exchange between Syria and Turkey exceeds one billion dollar and we expect it to reach two billion dollars at the end of this year,” Tuzmen said in a speech to the meeting of Turkish Council of Foreign Economic Relations in the presence of a Syrian economic delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdullah al-Dardari.
He added that Turkey is determined to increase the volume of trade exchange with Syria.
The Turkish Minister stressed that the continued meetings of the Syrian and Turkish economic and trade officials reflect the level which the relations between the two countries have reached to as show the success that has been achieved.
Tuzmen pointed out that his country would send a delegation to be briefed on the industrial city of Hasyaa in preparation for the investment in it.
“Syrian economy has achieved, in the recent years, a remarkable development during a gradual reform process made with the aim of encouraging investment and the private sector to play its role in the process of economic and social development, ” al-Daradari for his part said.
He clarified: “These reforms seek to create a proper environment for direct foreign investment through the support of market mechanisms and opening the Syrian economy to the global competition and liberalization of the financial system in a way that improves the investment climate and business environment.”
Dardari pointed out that growth of the Gross Domestic Product GDP reached in December 2007 about 6,2 % and thus it approached the hoped growth at the end of a plan which amounts 7 %.
In the framework of the foreign trade, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the preliminary statements show development in the whole exports and imports where the volume of foreign trade in 2007 was doubled.
He noted that contribution of the foreign trade in GDP, clearly, rose between years 2004 and 2007.
Al-Dardari indicated that the volume of foreign investments amounted in the year 2006 about 600 million dollars, mostly in the industry, while total of the foreign investments were achieved during the period from 2001to 2005 amounted 1,153 billion dollars.
He spoke about the decrees and laws, mainly the two legislative decrees No 8 and 9 that encourage and facilitate investments in Syria.
Head of the Syrian-Turkish Business Council Bahaa Eddin Hassan referred to the large financial reform, recently, has been achieved in Syria that led to the reduction of the taxes ratio, touching upon the issuance of the trade law and the companies law scheduled to be issued soon.
He called Turkish businessmen to attend the Syrian-Turkish Economic Forum, which will be held in Damascus next April with the purpose of setting up an economic zone between Syria and Turkey.