Dincer favors ending visa requirements between Turkey, New Zealand

Turkey and New Zealand should lift visa requirements for their citizens to visit each other's country, Labor and Social Security Minister Omer Dincer said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the Turkey-New Zealand Joint Economic Committee in Wellington, Dincer said that Turkey and New Zealand must work together to facilitate investment conditions, and thanked the delegations of both countries for their contributions. "We want to develop relations with New Zealand. We must end visa requirements and do away with bureaucracy," he said. "Turkey and New Zealand have excellent political ties. Our economic relations haven't developed as much as our political ones. We need a new vision to boost economic relations." The visa requirements make it difficult for Turkish businesspeople to come to New Zealand, and so complicate efforts to strengthen commercial ties, Dincer said. Pointing out that citizens of New Zealand can come to Turkey without the need for a visa, Dincer said that, in 2008, around 23,000 tourists from New Zealand visited Turkey. "We don't require visas from your businesspeople but instead encourage them to come to Turkey," he said. "We need to make the task of those willing to invest easier. We invite you to lift the borders between our two countries." Turkey's trade volume with New Zealand is around $112 million, but Dincer said it could easily increase by three- or fourfold. "The cooperation between our two countries can present greater opportunities," he added.