Caglayan: We have to start negotiations on an FTA

Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan said negotiations between Turkey and Japan on Free Trade Aggreement (FTA) should start immediately today, or tomorrow at the very latest. Caglayan spoke at Turkish-Japan Business Council Joint Meeting requesting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to contribute to the cooperation with third countries along with mutual investment and friendship relations between two countries. Reminding thatJapan is the third biggest economy in the world Caglayan said, "Turkey, standing in the westernmost part of Asia, is the biggest economy connecting Europe and Asia in the world, as well as being a country challenging the economic crisis in the world in the last four years." "It is not only exportation between two countries. What really matters is expanding the mutual investments and using Turkish and Japanese business powers in the third countries", said Caglayan pointing out that the foreign trade capacity between two countries last year did not reflect the real potential of the countries. In his talk, Caglayan said Japanese companies could not take advantage of the investment advantages in Turkey well enough. Hoping that the Japanese companies will best use incentive system in Turkey, Caglayan said, "I would like to say that we really care about the work of Turkey-Japan Free Trade Agreement group." "We have to start the negotiations immediately today, or tomorrow at the very latest. Turkey has had Free Trade Aggreements with 19 countries and signed FTA with South Korea, which came in force 2-3 days ago," Caglayan also said.