TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE MINISTER SAYS TRADE AMONG OIC MEMBERS SHOULD BE BOOSTED

ISTANBUL (A.A) - 06.10.2010 - Turkish foreign trade minister said on Wednesday that member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) should put forth their real performance to boost trade.
Delivering a speech at the 14th International Business Forum (IBF) in Istanbul, State Minister for foreign trade Zafer Caglayan said that world economy shrank due to global economic crisis and countries were affected by it at different aspects.
Caglayan said that Turkey was one of the countries which were least affected by global economic crisis and the country maintained fiscal discipline in this period. He said Turkish economy kept growing dynamically.
Caglayan said that commercial ties between Turkey and OIC countries should be boosted.
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said that global economic crisis also affected Islamic countries.
Iraqi economy faced several difficulties and there were problems especially in the areas of infrastructure and reconstruction of Iraq, he said.
Al-Hashimi said that they opened doors of Iraq to foreign investors, stating that a great progress was achieved in commercial ties between Turkey and Iraq. He said they aimed to increase trade volume with Turkey to 20 billion U.S. dollars within next three years.
Egyptian Foreign Trade & Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said that numerous Turkish companies were operating in Egypt and they were pleased with bilateral cooperation with Turkey.
Turkish investments in Egypt exceeded 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, Rachid said.