Turkish Press: Netherlands Conference Held At Turkish Foreign Ministry
Netherlands Conference Held At Turkish Foreign Ministry
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said that the Netherlands was a powerful partner of Turkey, and they aimed at further intensifying and deepening the bilateral relations with that country in all areas. Babacan attended the Second Turkey-Netherlands Conference at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen who is currently in Ankara on a formal visit. Speaking at the conference, Babacan said that the Netherlands was one of the countries making the most investments in Turkey. Our bilateral trade has been rapidly growing, he said. "More than 400 thousand people of Turkish descent live in the Netherlands. We expect number of Dutch tourists spending their holidays in Turkey to exceed 1 million by the end of this year. Relations between Turkish and Dutch peoples constitute an important part of the relations between the two countries," Babacan said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Verhagen, in his part, expressed his profound sorrow over killing of Turkish police officers in Wednesday`s terrorist attack in Diyarbakir. Referring to the bilateral relations, Verhagen said that the 400th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands would be celebrated in 2012. Verhagen said that Turkey was the fourth biggest commercial partner of the Netherlands.
Labels: Economy, EU, Netherlands, Tourism, Turkey
