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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-03-03
CONTENTS
[01] Erdogan: ‘Strategic' cooperation between Greece and Turkey
[01] Erdogan: ‘Strategic' cooperation between Greece and Turkey
AMNA -- Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan termed his country's
cooperation with Greece as "strategic," in view of a meeting on Monday
with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, in Istanbul. Samaras and Erdogan are
also to co-chair Monday's Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council.
In an exclusive interview with the Greece's state television NET, to be
aired on Monday morning at 09.00, Erdogan says cooperation with Greece
"is a strategic one, and we would like to ascribe to it a different
dimension. That is, Greece-Turkey bilateral relations from now on should
not be based on gossip."
Referring to the context of negotiations with the Greek premier, Erdogan
noted: "In our negotiations with the Greek government we will assess at
what point our bilateral relations are, and we will have the opportunity
to discuss how to move forward in the future...We have a loaded agenda and
we will continue our work from 11.00 in the morning until the evening...Of
course, we will examine a number of issues, including tourism, energy,
telecoms, the direction towards which we drive bilateral political
relations as well as NATO issues, as we are two NATO member countries
and we should discuss the steps to take in this capacity."amna
Speaking on trade between the two countries, Erdogan speaks of a
spirit of solidarity, saying that "at the end of 2012, the trade
balance between Greece and Turkey totaled 5 billion dollars, of which
3.5 billion dollars is Greece's exports and 1.5 billion dollars
are our exports to Greece." mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
Roman";color:#0F1419;mso-ansi-language:EN-US; According to excerpts of
the interview released by NET, Erdogan also says "the issues that we will
examine will be the steps toward signing more agreements in addition to
those we have already signed, and I think that all will go well."amna
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