Erdogan attends Turkish-Czech business council meeting

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday attended the Turkish-Czech Business Council meeting in Prague. Stating that Turkey and the Czech Republic reached a consensus on creating a high-level cooperation council, Erdogan said, "We look to the future with hope. There are positive developments. Our current trade volume of $2.5 billion with the Czech Republic is not sufficient. The target trade volume is to reach $5 billion by 2015." Erdogan added that Turkey was ready to provide Turkish citizenship to those Czech businesspeople who would want to invest in Turkey. During the meeting, Erdogan also said that Europe, as a continent which exists for democracy, respect for human rights and security for freedoms, needs to distance itself from terror organizations which pose threat to democracy, human rights and freedoms. For his part, Necas said that mutual economic relations between the two countries have increased by more than seven folds and that they agreed that there was a great potential to boost these figures. "We held discussions to develop and establish nuclear power plants and create alternative energy resources. Turkey is located in the crossroads of the transportation route of oil and gas. Therefore we attach importance to Turkey's involvement in the Southern Corridor Project," Necas said. Furthermore, Erdogan and Necas signed an agreement to develop mutual cooperation in the field of culture and energy.