President Gul lays foundation of Turkish university in Albania

In Albania on Saturday for an official visit, President Abdullah Gul participated in a ground-laying ceremony for a new Turkish university in the capital, Tirana. State Ministers Zafer Caglayan and Selma Aliye Kavaf and Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun also attended the ceremony and later visited a school named after late Turkish President Turgut Ozal. Addressing students and teachers at the Turkish high school, Gul thanked them for their warmth and hospitality. Gul said the friendship between Turkey and Albania stems from their shared history, adding that Turkish schools are just one fruit of that friendship. "These schools are the best gifts from Turkish businessmen to Albania," Gul said. The new university, Apoke University, is expected to be completed within five years, and is set to serve some 4,000 students. The campus will stretch out over 60 acres. During Gul's meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, the development of relations, and especially trade and economic relations and increasing Turkish investments in Albania, was discussed, the Albanian Prime Ministry Press Center said in a statement. It stressed the importance of Gul's visit, saying it had made a significant contribution to strengthening bilateral relations. "We are determined to develop relations between our two countries, two governments and two nations," Gul was quoted as saying during his meeting with Berisha. Gul also held talks in Montenegro, and along with his Montenegrin counterpart Filip Vujanovic, attended a Turkey-Montenegro Business Forum. Addressing the meeting, Gul expressed Turkey's eagerness to boost trade ties with Montenegro, adding that the country has been steadily moving towards both NATO and European Union memberships.