Gul attends OIC summit in Cairo

President Abdullah Gul, who is in Cairo to attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), told the state-run Anatolia news agency's Arabic service that he appreciated the agency for choosing Cairo as the headquarters of Arabic broadcast, defining the Egyptian capital as the intellectual and cultural center of the region. Stating that Turkey considers Egypt as a strategic partner, Gul said that he was in Cairo upon the invitation of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to attend a summit of the OIC and hold official contacts. Gul also said that he considered the theme of summit which was defined as "Islamic World: New Tests and Expanding Opportunities" especially important. "As part of the summit, the problems suffered in Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, Mali and other regions will be discussed as well. A special session will be held about the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory by Israeli settlements, Gul said. Touching on the financing package totaling $2 billion which was provided by Turkey for Egypt, Gul said that half of that amount has been transferred to Egypt and the remaining part would be used as export credit. "We are determined to maximize our economic, commercial and cultural relations with Egypt. We are glad that the mutual trade volume between Turkey and Egypt has climbed to $5 billion in 2012. But this is not enough, and we hope to increase this amount to $10 billion as soon as possible," Gul said, adding that he appreciates the progress made by Egypt in its democratic transition process and that history was full of numerous examples in which democracy has taken root with great sacrifices and Egypt, including its administration and opposition, should be aware of this situation.