Davutoglu proposes regional trade alliance at TAC meeting

Turkey is working to create a visa-free trade zone with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum (TAC) in Istanbul yesterday. "We want a vehicle to be able to leave Turkey and reach Morocco without having to stop at any border gates," he said, adding that the government would make a declaration on this plan before the weekend. The third meeting of TAC foreign ministers and the fifth meeting of the TAC Economic Forum began with the participation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in İstanbul, along with Foreign Minister Davutoglu, Finance Minister Simsek, and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Twenty-one countries are participating in the foreign ministers' meeting. In the opening ceremony, Simsek said free trade agreements between Turkey and Arab countries will not only help their economies but also contribute to peace. Saying that trade between Turkey and Arab countries jumped fourfold between 2002 and 2009, Simsek added, however, that this still falls short of its potential. "We should allocate more resources to research and development and investments in infrastructure as well as to train a qualified labor force; this is the key to achieving long-term stability," he said. Touting Turkey's opportunities for foreign investors, Simsek said international organizations have forecast that Turkey will grow by around 6-7 percent this year. Moussa, for his part, argued that Arab countries should develop financial interests with Turkey. He said commercial relations between Turkey and the Arab world should be enhanced, lamenting how Turkey's trade volume with Arab markets fell from a high of TL 40 billion in 2008 due to the global economic crisis. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said at the meeting that Turkey and the Arab nations could establish an integrated economic structure. "This partnership would foster power for Arabs and Turkey in economic and political platforms and in the international arena against challenges in the region," he said.