Turkey, Portugal relax some visa procedures

Paying a one-day visit to Lisbon yesterday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado. During their one-hour meeting, the two top diplomats signed an agreement towards the mutual lifting of visa procedures for holders of special and service passports. Speaking at a joint press conference afterwards, Davutoglu said Turkey and Portugal have strong relations in all areas, with trade last year reaching $826 million, but added that there is a lot of room to boost this figure. For his part, Amado praised Turkey's recent high-level, active foreign policy, and added, "The diplomacy of the European Union and Turkey should be carried out in sync." Amano also expressed his country's firm support for Turkey's EU bid.