Turkey, UK ink info partnership agreement

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Turkey and the United Kingdom signed Monday an information partnership agreement in a bid to create new opportunities and develop new commercial ties between the two countries.

The agreement was signed between Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan and the U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable, following a meeting between Turkish and British delegations in Ankara.

“The information partnership agreement we signed today will create new opportunities and new commercial developments between Turkey and the U.K.,” Çaglayan said at the signing ceremony.

The target is to double the trade volume by 2015, he said. “More than 2,300 British firms have made investments worth $4.1 billion in Turkey while the number of Turkish firms investing in the United Kingdom has risen to 100.” The minister said trade volume between the two countries had reached $12 billion in 2010 and continued to rise in 2011. Turkey’s exports to the U.K. increased to $4.6 billion and imports totaled $3.4 billion in the period between January and July, Çağlayan said.

“Under the agreement, we will carry out several projects especially in energy and energy productivity [sectors]. Turkey is planning to make energy investments worth $120 billion in the next 10 years,” Çağlayan said.

Çağlayan also said Turkey and the U.K. would work on Turkey’s project to make Istanbul a regional finance center. “We want to benefit from the U.K.’s experiences in this regard.”

Cable said the U.K. considered Turkey a strategic partner. The U.K. wants to cooperate with Turkey especially in investing in third countries, he added.