Gul arrives in Japan

President Abdullah Gul yesterday arrived in Tokyo, Japan, to pay an official visit upon the invitation of Japanese Emperor Akihito. Speaking to reporters after his arrival, Gul said, "Turkey and Japan enjoy good relations and we are here yield results from our deep-rooted friendship with Japan." Stressing that this is the first presidential-level visit from Turkey to Japan, he said that the visit would open a new page to implement the economy, tourism and investment potential between the two countries. Gul said that he would promote investment opportunities in Turkey during his talks with Japanese officials and investors and added that Turkey should increase its share in foreign investments of Japan and attract more Japanese tourists. Gul characterized his visit as an important opportunity to activate the actual economic potential between Turkey and Japan. Stating that the Turkish Year celebrated in Japan in 2003 highly contributed to Turkey's promotion, Gul also said, "Turkey declared the year 2010 as the Japanese Year and this will also boost cultural relations with Japan." Gul added, "We desire to see the Japanese Emperor in Turkey during the Japanese Year celebrations in 2010." Gul's visit will mainly focus on economy and seek ways to increase bilateral trade volume with Japan and to draw more Japanese investments in Turkey. Japan's direct investments in foreign countries were about $73 billion in 2007 and Turkey's share in those investments was only $2 billion The Japanese investments in Turkey are expected to reach $4 billion thanks to the visit.