Turkey and Indonesia agreed to start preparations to fully lift visa requirements to further boost tourism and cooperation between the two countries

The Turkish president has said Turkey and Indonesia have agreed to start work to reciprocally abolish visa requirements between the two countries as a way to step up their strengthening relations.

“During today’s meetings, Turkey and Indonesia agreed to start preparations to fully lift visa requirements,” President Abdullah Gül told a joint news conference with his visiting Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, at the Çankaya presidential palace following his bilateral meeting with Yudhoyono in Ankara on Tuesday.

President Gül said Turkey and Indonesia are already working closely but that this latest visit will help these relations grow even stronger. He added that Turkey wishes for these relations to reflect on tourism and other areas, as well. Gül noted that the two countries had previously agreed to issue visas to both countries’ nationals at the border and that today work began on scrapping the requirements totally.

“All this shows that opportunities to cooperate are vast despite the physical distance between our two countries. I wish for this visit to be very successful and for relations between Turkey and Indonesia to improve in every aspect,” President Gül noted.

Noting that Turkey’s relations with Indonesia date back to the 16th century, Gül said there are strong and good relations between the states and peoples of the two countries. Noting that the Indonesian president’s visit is very important, Gül said Yudhoyono represents the most populous Muslim democracy in the world. “In this respect, we are happy to host the delegation of this friendly and brotherly country. We consider the visit a historic one and think that our relations will accelerate and enter a new phase,” President Gül noted.

Pointing to a large delegation accompanying President Yudhoyono, Gül said this shows the strength and importance of relations between the two countries.

Saying that it is important that two brother nations are coming together and getting to know each other, Gül said Indonesia will never forget Turks who rushed to give a helping hand to victims of a 2004 tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in the Southeast Asian nation. He stressed that people from Turkey were the first to come to Indonesia to help the victims.

Noting that he had held a very constructive meeting with his counterpart, President Gül said they discussed bilateral relations, regional issues and ties in international platforms.

Both countries share many similarities regarding political views and economic and demographic indicators. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, while Turkey is home to a substantial number of Muslims. Both are members of the G-20 and hold similar views on international affairs. They are among the world’s most rapidly developing economies and are also members of the Developing Eight (D-8).

Stating that he and various ministers from both countries met on Tuesday and signed eight deals in different spheres, Gül said that Turkish-Indonesian economic and political relations are perfect

Turkey displayed its support for Indonesia by voting in favor of its bid to lead the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries (PUIC). Despite the ever-strengthening ties between the two developing nations, it has been 25 years since an Indonesian president last paid a visit to Turkey. The Turkish prime minister, however, has visited Indonesia twice, once in 2005 and again in 2006. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 2005 visit to Aceh was to lend his support to the victims of a major earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. Erdoğan’s second visit came a year later to attend a D-8 summit in Bali.

Speaking during a press conference, the Indonesian president said it is important to advance cooperation and relations further in political, cultural, trade and defense areas. Yudhoyono said Indonesia is heavily involved both in the G-20 and in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Also assessing Turkish-Indonesian relations in international organizations, Yudhoyono said he discussed with his Turkish counterpart coordinating their positions on a variety of topics in diverse United Nations forums.

Indonesia was a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008. The country abstained during a vote on imposing sanctions aimed at pushing Iran to relinquish its nuclear ambitions, a political stance Turkey staunchly supported for years.

Saying that Turkey has a very strong defense industry, Yudhoyono said they stressed the opportunity of healthy cooperation through uniting the two countries’ strength.

The Indonesian president said his country shares Turkey’s view with regard to Palestine. “We hold the same view about giving more rights to Palestinians and for an independent Palestinian state. At the same time, we agree with the idea that the human rights of people in Gaza should be protected and that humanitarian aid should be provided to the Gazans,” the president said.

Both the Indonesian public and the government have strongly protested Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31 that left nine Turks dead. The Indonesian president spoke before the Turkish Parliament later on Tuesday.

News source: Todays’ Zaman, D-8 Media.

Turkish President Gül and Indonesian President Yudhoyono pose with their spouses before the presidents' bilateral meeting

Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said Indonesia and Turkey aim to reach a bilateral trade volume of $10 billion, stressing increasingly growing trade and economic relations.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday following his meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Ankara, Gül said they have revised their bilateral relations and have discussed international issues with Yudhoyono.

“Along with this, we have also discussed and decided to improve our relations in the economy, tourism, culture, education and defense industry sectors. Eight agreements that we signed today openly display the importance of relations between our nations,” Gül stressed.

The Turkish and Indonesian presidents are expected to attend the Turkish-Indonesian Business Forum today with businesspeople from both countries attending. The forum is organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), and more than 800 businesspeople will reportedly attend.

Noting that he will hold several meetings in İstanbul within the scope of the Turkish-Indonesian Business Forum on Wednesday, President Gül said his administration will motivate businesspeople to do more business with Indonesia.

Turkey’s major exports to Indonesia are wheat and flour, despite some impediments in trade. The bilateral trade volume between the two countries was $1.78 billion in 2009. The Turkish president said Indonesia is rich not only in regards to its population and geography but also its richness in natural resources. Underlining that the country is undergoing a comprehensive economic reform process, the president said the country is making a huge leap in development.

Saying Turkey is also a rapidly developing country similar to Indonesia, Gül stated that they are aware of the huge economic potential and that they plan to improve trade. “In terms of both investment and trade, our trade volume has now exceeded $1.5 billion, but in the short term we want to reach $5 billion and then our target is to reach $10 billion,” Gül said.

Before the press conference, Turkey and Indonesia signed eight agreements on defense, technical cooperation, small and medium business, cultural exchange, maritime transportation, development of the labor force, support for investment and media.

Speaking at the press conference, the Indonesian president said they aim to take the economies and economic relations of both countries to higher levels. “Now our aim is to reach $5 billion from the current $1.78 billion. As a result of great efforts through the private sector, we aim to reach that target,” Yudhoyono said.

Noting that they invited Turkish investors to Indonesia to invest in the agriculture, tourism, infrastructure and transportation sectors, along with others, Yudhoyono said they are working to improve cooperation in geothermal energy.

News source: Todays’ Zaman, D-8 Media.

The D-8 7th Summit will be launched from 4-8 July, 2010 with the theme of “Enhancing Investment Cooperation among D-8 Members”

D-8 Organization is set to hold the D-8 7th Head of States Summit in the capital of Nigeria next month. The Summit will be launched from 4-8 July, 2010 with the theme of “Enhancing Investment Cooperation among D-8 Members”. The Summit will reinforce and sharpen the economic cooperation among member countries through sharing of expertise in the fields of Energy, Transport, Tourism, Banking, Financial Institution, Infrastructural Development, Human Resources Development, Science and Technology, Migrant Workers and remittances, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as well as Information and Communication Technology. All these corporations are with the view to improving the well being of its peoples in a global economy. Also, it is aimed at boosting the participation of member States in the process of decision making at the international level.

The Summit will draw participation from D-8 Heads of State and Government, D-8 Foreign Ministers, D-8 Technocrats, D-8 Private Sector, members of the Press and stakeholders on D-8. Among the important agenda of the summit would be the D-8 Roadmap for Economic Cooperation (2008-2018).

The roadmap which was endorsed during the Kuala Lumpur Summit in 2008, is aimed at encouraging greater economic cooperation among member states and to assist in mobilising resources from governmental and private sectors in implementing D-8 projects.

In the Summit, Malaysia is also set to hand over the chairmanship to Nigeria. Malaysia took on the D-8 chairmanship on July 8, 2008 at the 6th summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With more than 155 million people, Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy and has the second largest economy where the oil rich country is also known as the “Land of Opportunities” for its huge economic potential.

At the end of the Summit, Abuja Declaration would be released. This declaration, hopefully, would address issues that could help cushion the effects and challenges facing D-8 member States on: global economic recession, World Energy question, Climate change and global warming as they affect Agriculture and food security, transportation, and matters on world trade.

Representation from member countries or press-media are welcomed to download Supporting Documents to the Summit through the “Member Download Area” or “Public Download Area” of this website.

Nigerian Foreign Ministry has initiated to launch a website for the Summit, which you can visit by clicking here.

D-8 Holds the Meeting on Renewable Energy today in Ankara, attended by delegations from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey

The First Session of the D-8 Working Committee on Renewable Energy was held in Ankara, Turkey on June 8-9, 2010. The meeting was attended by Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.

Mr. M. Kemal Büyükmıhçı, General Director of EIE of Turkey made his welcoming statement to the participants. In his speech, Mr Büyükmıhçı made reference to the impacts of fluctuation in global energy prices, exhaustion of fossil resources, global warming etc in energy security and therefore the importance of energy efficiency. He stressed that energy demand will mostly be from the developing countries and it is expected that it will be 45% more in 2030. In his speech, he also mentioned about the energy policies of Turkey up to 2023.

Acting Secretary General of D-8 Organization, H.E. Amb. Kia Tabatabaee delivered his speech. He pointed out that according to global trends estimation, renewable energy sources are set to expand rapidly. He said that, excluding traditional biomass use, renewable energy share of global primary energy demand is projected to climb from 7% in 2006 to 10% by 2030. In addition, world renewable-based electricity generation — mostly hydro and wind power — is projected to more than double over the outlook period, its share of total electricity output rising from 18% in 2006 to 23% in 2030. Renewable energy will overtake gas to become the second-largest source of electricity, behind coal, before 2015.

The meeting seek to cooperate closer among member countries in in renewable energy

Biomass, geothermal and solar thermal provided around 6% of total global heating demand in 2006. This share is projected to increase to 7% in 2030. Where resources are abundant and conventional energy sources expensive, renewable based heating can be very cost competitive with conventional fossil-fuel heating systems. Assumed higher fossil-fuel prices, which make renewable relatively more competitive and strong policy support, renewable energy need to be supported by investments and policies. Total of global cumulative investment in renewable energy supply in 2007-2030 amounts to $5.5 trillion.

The Working Commitee Meeting seek to cooperate closer among member countries in in renewable energy to find opportunity of new investment and markets, as well as to find, discuss, and formulate possibilities to address challenges in the energy market.

D-8 has been seeking to design an effective, efficient and operative government, public and private sector cooperation, and turn it into a project-oriented mechanism on D-8 cooperation sector. One vehicle to achieve this is through supporting the D-8 Joint Investment Fund which is hoped will be put into practice in 2010. By the help of this Fund, not only the D-8 Countries’ public and private sectors, but also all international organizations and NGOs will be invited for joint projects in D-8 cooperation sector.

Akenerji's Ahmet Ümit Danışman (L) and Polat Enerji's Zeki Eriş sign an agreement in Istanbul on Monday

Akenerji, one of the leading Turkish private energy companies, will have a chance to benefit from Polat Enerji’s wind turbine production capacity thanks to a protocol signed between the companies on Monday. Akenerji executives say they are eyeing new opportunities to further expand the firm’s energy supply portfolio

Akenerji, a leading private electricity generation firm in Turkey, has signed a partnership deal with Polat Enerji to buy the full capacity production of Polat Enerji’s 100 megawatts wind turbines.

The firm aims to create a trade platform in order to realize more purchase activities. The installed capacity of Akenerji will rise to 140 megawatts from 100 megawatts by the year’s end.

“We aim to supply a win-win deal for all the producers that we work with. We believe this new partnership deal model will contribute to the development of Turkey’s energy sector,” said Ahmet Ümit Danışman, the general manager of Akenerji during a press meeting in Istanbul on Monday.

Akenerji aims to become the largest and most effective energy trade platform. “We are open to all kinds of partnership deals with large or small energy production firms. We bought the 100 megawatts production capacity of Polat Enerji wind tribunes until Dec. 31,” said Danışman, adding that the deal is open and Akenerji is reflexive on the date. “If everything goes well, we can expand the date of the deal.”

Danışman noted the country’s need for qualified electricity and green energy. “We will have the chance to supply more green energy to our clients with this new deal,” he said.

Highlighting that Turkey’s electricity demand will increase to 202.7 billion kilowatts per hour in 2010, Danışman said the agreement also aims to contribute to Turkey’s electricity supply.

Turkey is expected to see a jump in demand this year as Turkey’s economy returns to growth after a 4.7 percent contraction last year, according to Danışman.

“It is expected after the recession, Turkey will see a significant growth in 2010, and the electricity demand will grow accordingly,” he added.

“Turkey’s energy demand will increase 6.5 percent in 2011,” said Danışman. “Turkey needs $100 billion energy investment within 10 years in order not to experience any bottleneck in supply.”

Noting that Akenerji aims to have 3,000 megawatts installed capacity within five years, Danışman said. “With our partner, the CEZ Group, we aim to invest in $3 billion for energy.”

With this new investment, Akenerji aims to have a share of between 7 percent and 8 percent in Turkey’s overall electricity production. “Our target is to become the largest integrated energy firm,” Danışman said.

Speaking after Danışman, Zeki Eriş, Polat Enerji’s managing director, said Polat aims to invest in renewable energy resources. “We are satisfied to sign a partnership deal with Akenerji. We share the same objectives,” Eriş said. “Both companies aim to produce more green energy.”

Currently, Polat Enerji has 100 megawatts installed capacity for wind tribunes. “However, with the licensing applications and new projects, Polat will increase its capacity to more than 1,000 megawatts within five years,” Eriş added.

The current electricity market in Turkey faces a lot of problems, according to Eriş. “Investment in wind turbines is a very expensive investment indeed. A government support mechanism for wind turbine instalment should be created,” he said.

D-8 Organization is keen on building stronger cooperation among its memberstates in energy sector. On 1-2 June 2008, the Government of The Arab Republic of Egypt has successfully hosted the Fourth D-8 Working Group Meeting on Energy in Cairo, which was attended by, among others, the D-8 Secretary General and representative from Islamic Development Bank.

D-8 will hold the 1st D–8 Working Committee Meeting on Renewable Energy on June 8-9, 2010 in Ankara, Turkey. The meeting is scheduled to talk about potentials, legislation and policies, as well as renewable energy market within the D-8 member countries. All member countries have confirmed to participate by sending their delegation consisted of public and private sectors.

News Source: Hurriyetdailynews, D-8 Media