Caglayan conveys Erdogan's support for UAE's Al Maktoum

State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan held talks with officials of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Caglayan met with UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. During the meeting, Caglayan delivered a letter of support from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Al Maktoum, whose country was recently hit by a severe debt crisis and sought a delay in repayment on billions of dollars of debt for the Dubai World conglomerate. In the letter, Erdogan highlighted the depth of the friendly and historical ties between Turkey and the UAE, and pledged Turkey's continued support for the crisis-hit country. Erdogan expressed his desire to build new bridges of cooperation with the UAE to promote economic, trade, investment and cultural partnerships in the common interests of both their countries and peoples. In response, Al Maktoum asked Caglayan to convey his greetings to Erdogan. He went on to say that the people of the UAE, including its government and leadership, welcome all forms of constructive cooperation between their two countries. He said bilateral trade has already risen to $9 billion annually, adding that he is optimistic about the future of Turkish-UAE relations. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Caglayan said the UAE is a very important trade partner for Turkey and ranked third in Turkey's exports last year. "Thirty-five Turkish companies undertook 77 projects worth $6.2 billion in the UAE, and concluded some of them," he said. "There was a serious drop in Turkey's trade due to the global crisis. Turkey's iron and steel exports to the region fell, as construction particularly in this region slowed down." He added, "The purpose of my visit was to communicate a message from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Al Maktoum reaffirming that Turkish industrialists, entrepreneurs and exporters will continue to work with businessmen of Abu Dhabi and that investments will continue." Caglayan said UAE investments in Turkey total $5 billion, with around 90 companies active mainly in the areas of jewelry, food, furniture, construction, and ready-wear.