Minutes of Meeting with Abdullah Gül, Foreign Minister of Turkey

March 01, 2007 by D-8 Secretariat

This meeting was held as a courtesy call of the D-8 Secretariat to the Foreign Ministry of Turkey. Both sides declared their pleasures to come together.

Regarding the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the D-8 both sides agreed to celebrate the fist decade of the organization in Jakarta. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül stated his special interest to the D-8 since he had been responsible for the establishment of the Organization in 1997 as the Minister of the Turkish Government.

On celebration for  the Decade of D8, Secretary General referred to the second OECD World Forum on Statistics, knowledge and Policy meeting to be held in İstanbul, 27-30 June 2007 and called on Turkey as one of the sponsors, to investigate the possibility of inviting the President of Indonesia as the chair of D8 to address that forum. The assistant of Foreign Minister indicated that they will consider this proposal and raise it with other members as soon as an official note is received.

The low trade volume in D-8 area is expected to increase after the finalization of the PTA. In this connection, D-8 Secretariat accentuated the importance of RoO negotiations which are hosted by Pakistan.

Secretary General mentioned that trade deficit between Turkey and Indonesia which is disadvantage of Turkey can be reduced by government procurement of Indonesia side.

Common projects in aircraft between Indonesia and Turkey were discussed and Foreign Minister stated that both sides should study if there is still market for aircrafts. Secretary General said that this issue can be raised by delegates in the 3rd WG meeting on Industry.

An authority from Turkish side brought up the topic of enlargement of the Organization. Secretary General explained that D8 is a small group and the present size is manageable and fine. For the time being PTA must be given priority and the integration of new member states would be very difficult. In addition, as the number of member states increases, decision making process becomes cumbersome as is the case in OIC.

Minister Gül raised the possibility of joint projects in agriculture.

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