Transportation Minister Yildirim meets German counterpart in Berlin

BERLIN (A.A) - December 7, 2011 - Turkish Minister for Transportation, Maritime and Communications Binali Yildirim met with German Minister for Transportation, Construction and Urban Development Peter Ramsauer in Berlin on Wednesday. Yildirim's meeting with Ramsauer took place behind closed doors. Speaking to Turkish journalists prior to his meeting with Ramsauer, Minister Yildirim had said that they were determining the necessary programs so that Turkey could be one of the world's biggest 10 economies in the year 2023. In order to reach our goals, we need to build new highways, airports, seaports, railways and roads, Yildirim said. We aim to build one of the world's biggest 10 seaports in Turkey. We aim to increase the number of passengers travelling by air to 375 million from the present 165 million in Turkey. We also plan to increase the number of commercial aircraft in Turkey to 750 from the present 347, Yildirim underlined. Touching on technological cooperation between Turkey and Germany, Yildirim said that the relations were not at the desired level. Germany is Turkey's biggest trade partner. We can cooperate in development of new technologies and energy with Germany. We want to boost our technological cooperation with Germany, Yildirim added.