Ricciardone: "Commercial and economic ties should be improved"

US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone delivered a speech at the lunch held within the scope of the 31st Annual Conference of the American Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington yesterday. Touching upon Turkey's efforts aimed at preparing a new constitution, Francis Ricciardone said that Turkey has opening a new page for itself through a new constitution which aimed to preserve freedoms and rights of Turkish citizens. Ricciardone added that commercial and economic ties between the two countries should be improved. Speaking for his part, US Deputy Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Philip Gordon said that they hoped that the Greek Cypriot administration's EU term presidency would not make a negative impact on negotiation process and Turkish-EU relations. Gordon said they considered that energy resources on and around the island should be used for all communities there and should be improved within the scope of comprehensive solution.