Category: Asia and Pacific

Tajikistan President says ready to cooperate with Turkey

TUSKON Chairperson Rizanur Meral, in his part, said that they accepted President Rahmon’s invitation to Tajikistan.

Thursday, 23 December 2010 11:32

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon said Wednesday that “without investments, it would not be possible to make use of Tajikistan’s natural and human potential”.

Speaking at the “Turkey-Tajikistan Trade and Investment Forum”, organized by the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) in north-western province of Istanbul, Rahmon said that “the Tajik government was doing all it can for investors”.

We expect great changes in joint commercial and economic spheres. The groundwork for such a change is ready. We, once again, invite you to Tajikistan. Any businessperson travelling to Tajikistan will not feel as a foreigner, Rahmon underlined.

The trade volume between Turkey and Tajikistan increased by two fold in 2010 when compared to the previous year. Nonetheless, the trade volume is far behind the trade volume in 2007 which was 500.5 million USD, Rahmon said.

Conditions are ripe to develop Turkish-Tajik commercial and economic relations. To date, Turkey has extended assistance worth 40 million USD to Tajikistan. There are 53 Turkish companies operating in Tajikistan, however, this number is very few, Rahmon said.

Tajikistan has taken crucial steps for commerce and investments. We can state that Tajikistan has entered a phase that businesspeople can have confidence in. Volatile days in Tajikistan are over, Rahmon said.

Tajikistan still faces certain problems in investments. Without investments, it would not be possible to utilize Tajikistan’s natural and human potential. We invite, once more, (Turkish) investors to Tajikistan, Rahmon said.

“Ready for cooperation”

Touching on Tajikistan’s natural resources, Rahmon stressed that there could be great opportunities to produce electricity in his country.

Tajikistan has the world’s richest silver mines. Certain mineral resources are being processed by companies from China and Canada. Many other mineral resources are currently waiting to be processed, Rahmon underlined.

We are ready to cooperate with Turkey. Turkish companies are presently involved in 60 projects in Tajikistan that are worth around four billion USD, Rahmon said.

TUSKON Chairperson Rizanur Meral, in his part, said that they accepted President Rahmon’s invitation to Tajikistan.

We will visit Tajikistan with a group of Turkish businesspeople in the first half of 2011, Meral also said.

“$317 mln-trade volume”

The Republic of Tajikistan is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People’s Republic of China to the east. Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan and the Gilgit-Baltistan region, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul also said that Turkish businessmen should boost their investments in Tajikistan.

Gul said that Turkey and Tajikistan were eager to boost bilateral ties.

Gul said that Tajikistan had rich mines, marble reserves and water resources, stating that Turkish businessmen should make good use of numerous opportunities in this country.

Turkish businessmen should attach a special interest in this country, he said.

Trade volume between Turkey and Tajikistan was 317 million U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of 2010.

Most of Tajikistan’s population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.

After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country’s economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton and aluminium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.

AA

December 24, 2010
Pakistan, Turkey to share expertise in field of anti-terrorism, anti-money laundering

ISTANBUL: Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay held a meeting with Federal Minister for Interior, Senator A. Rehman Malik at Ministry of Interior, Istanbul. The meeting held in a very cordial atmosphere in which bilateral issues and matters pertaining to Human Smuggling, Drug Smuggling, money laundering and terrorism came under discussion.

The Turkish Minister of Interior Besir Atalay appreciated Pakistan for action against terrorists and making Pakistan more safer. He appreciated the role of Pakistan in the war against terrorists and recognized the services of people of Pakistan and law enforcers for fighting fearlessly against terrorists. Both the Interior Ministers agreed to share expertise in the field of anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering.

Turkey will send delegation of senior officers to Pakistan to share their expertise and Pakistan also agreed to send the delegation of officers to learn Turkish experience. Both Interior Ministers once again re-affirmed to work together and to make the region safer for the coming generations.

via ONLINE – International News Network.

December 24, 2010
Turkey, Japan in Exclusive Talks for Nuclear Plant

By Tsuyoshi Inajima

(Updates minister’s comments in third paragraph.)

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — Turkey is holding exclusive talks with Japan to build its second nuclear power plant after failing to reach an agreement with South Korea.

Turkey aims to conclude a deal with Japan in three months, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said today in an interview in Tokyo. Yildiz is due to hold talks with Toshiba Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Itochu Corp.

South Korea and Turkey failed to reach an agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Sinop on the Black Sea coast because of “differences in issues including electricity sales price,” South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Nov. 13. Japan, which won a nuclear plant contract in Vietnam in October, plans to spur economic growth by exporting more nuclear reactors and technology products.

“We have some targets to recover the time we have lost” to build the nuclear plant, Yildiz said. “Within three months, main frameworks should be determined,” including financing, treasury, insurance, partnerships and power tariffs, he said.

Yildiz said his visit to Japan comes after officials from Toshiba and the Japanese government held two rounds of technical meetings in Turkey on the project. “They told us their first impression is quite positive,” he said.

Turkey received an offer from Japan to build a nuclear plant in the country, CNBC-e television said on Oct. 7, citing Yildiz. The offer is an “aggressive one,” the Istanbul-based news channel cited the minister as saying then.

‘More Aggressive’

“Major players including Japan are getting more aggressive in the global nuclear market after they were beaten by South Korea last year to the United Arab Emirates’ $18.6 billion order,” said Shin Min Seok, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co. in Seoul.

South Korea emerged as a competitor in the global nuclear market after Korea Electric Power Corp. beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA in December last year to the U.A.E. order.

Yildiz and his Japanese counterpart Akihiro Ohata are due to sign a memorandum of understanding on nuclear power cooperation tomorrow, Japan’s trade ministry said in a statement yesterday.

On Dec. 25, the Turkish minister is scheduled to visit Tokyo Electric’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s biggest atomic power station, according to an e-mailed statement by the ministry. Tokyo Electric officials including Executive Vice President Sakae Muto will meet Yildiz at the plant in northern Japan, company spokesman Norio Takahashi said by telephone today.

Calls to the offices of the spokesmen for Toshiba and Itochu weren’t answered as businesses and markets are shut for a public holiday today. An Itochu spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a voice message seeking comment left on his mobile phone.

Russia and Turkey signed a contract in May to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant with four reactors, at a cost of about $20 billion after more than a year of negotiations. Russia’s Rosatom Corp. will operate the plant in Akkuyu for 60 years, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Dec. 15.

“My expectation and hope is that the cost will not be higher than numbers we have been talking with Russia and South Korea,” Yildiz said today.

–With assistance from Shinhye Kang in Seoul. Editors: Amit Prakash, John Viljoen.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at tinajima@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

via Turkey, Japan in Exclusive Talks for Nuclear Plant – BusinessWeek.

December 24, 2010
Davutoglu Says Karabakh Peace Only Possible Through Teritorial Integrity

ISTANBUL (Today’s Zaman)—Ankara continues to support a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that sees the dissolution of the mountainous Armenian Republic and its transfer to Azeri control, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday.

“Turkey wishes restoration of peace and order in southern Caucasus within the framework of this solution. We want normalization of relations not only between Turkey and Armenia but also between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Davutoglu told reporters during the 11th summit of the heads of state and government of the Economic Cooperation Council (ECO) in Istanbul.

Asked if pressure on Turkey would change its stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Davutoglu said Turkey defends a solution based on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. “This is the norm of international relations. Similarly, Turkey wishes peace and order to prevail in the southern Caucasus within the scope of this solution,” he said, adding that Ankara is eager to normalize relations with Armenia.

Davutoglu ruled out the likelihood that Turkey will capitulate under pressure, adding that Ankara is ready to support every kind of peaceful process in the Caucasus.

via Davutoglu Says Karabakh Peace Only Possible Through Teritorial Integrity | Asbarez Armenian News.

December 24, 2010
[Australian] PM orders review of spy bodies

Dylan Welch

December 24, 2010

THE ballooning powers and funding of Australia’s spy agencies will be investigated for the first time in six years, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcing an independent review of their role.

The review will run in the first half of next year and follows a boom decade for intelligence, with Australia’s six spy agencies enjoying ever-greater powers and funding.

”The review will ensure Australia continues to have a well-co-ordinated, appropriately resourced and adaptable intelligence system that supports our national interests,” Ms Gillard said.

The agencies’ growth has been accompanied by criticism that they have grown too fast, and that the powers of the parliamentary and statutory intelligence watchdogs have not been able to keep up.

The six Australian intelligence agencies are: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO); the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS); the Office of National Assessments (ONA); and the three Defence intelligence agencies.

In recent years ASIO has become the country’s wiretap hub, and its budget appropriations have grown by 535 per cent – from $69 million to $438 million annually – since 2001. Over the same period ASIS and ONA have experienced growth rates of 344 per cent and 443 per cent, respectively.

A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard yesterday said the review was not designed to put the brakes on the spy agencies’ funding.

”The aim of the review is to ensure that our intelligence agencies are working effectively together – it is not aimed at identifying reductions in resourcing,” she said.

The review is the result of a recommendation in the 2004 Flood review of the intelligence agencies, which found they should be independently examined every five to seven years.

It will be headed by the former secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Cornall, and an ethicist and theologian from Melbourne university, Associate Professor Rufus Black.

Staff will interview the ministers for defence and foreign affairs, Stephen Smith and Kevin Rudd, as well as the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and the heads of all six agencies.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pm-orders-review-of-spy-bodies-20101223-196l8.html, December 24, 20

December 23, 2010
Turkey warns US over Armenia genocide resolution

Istanbul, Dec 21 (DPA) The Turkish government has warned US President Barack Obama that a congressional vote on a resolution recognising the massacre of Armenians during World War I as a ‘genocide’ could severely damage relations, the Turkish press reported Tuesday.

The US House of Representatives has tentatively planned a vote on the resolution for Tuesday, just before the 111th congress concludes. In March, the non-binding resolution was passed by a 23-22 vote in the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, a move Turkey protested by withdrawing its ambassador to Washington for one month.

Armenians contend that up to 1.5 million of their people were systematically killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. The US has approximately one million citizens of Armenian descent and the diaspora has rallied for recognition of the killings as a ‘genocide’.

Turkey has long denied the genocide claim, saying the number of Armenians killed is much lower than claimed and that the deaths were the result of intercommunal violence at the time that also affected other ethnic groups.

The Turkish government and Turkish-American advocacy groups have engaged in an intense lobbying effort to prevent the resolution from going to a vote in the House.

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Obama saying that the vote could cause a major rift in relations, according to reports in the Turkish press. ‘We are expecting that you will step in and intervene in Congress,’ Erdogan’s letter reportedly said.

Although Turkey refuses to recognise the genocide claim, relations between the current Turkish and Armenian governments have slightly improved over the last couple of years.

In October 2009, the two governments signed accords to renew diplomatic relations and open their border. However, neither country has fully ratified the accords, and the process has stalled.

Ankara has warned that the passing of the genocide resolution in the US House could lead to a rupture in relations with Washington and could harm the already tentative reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia.

The Obama administration has opposed the House resolution for the same reasons.

In 2007, then president George W. Bush successfully pressured the House not to bring a similar genocide resolution to a floor vote, averting a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the US.

Sify News

December 21, 2010