Morsi to boost ties with Turkey

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Egypt President Mohamed Morsi speaks during a press conference. AFP photo

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s visit to Turkey to participate in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress on Sept. 30 also aims to boost the political and trade ties between two countries.
Morsi, in his one-day working visit to Ankara, will deliver a speech to AKP congress, and is set to hold bilateral meetings with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is also expected to meet Turkish businessmen in a bid to boost trade between two countries.

During the Egyptian president’s visit, Turkish and Egyptian officials plan to finalize the $2 billion financial package for the recovering North African country. The aid package is designed to help strengthen Egypt’s foreign currency reserves and infrastructure investment plans,

Following Morsi’s talks in Turkey, Prime Minister Erdoğan will travel to Egypt, where President Gül will later pay an official visit to the country in December.

Morsi’s visit will be his first to Turkey since he became Egypt’s president in June. During his talks, Morsi is expected to discuss the Syrian crisis and the Palestinian issue.

The “contact group” of Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which was assembled at Egypt’s initiative, will be high on the agenda of talks.

First and foremost the initiative aims to stop bloodshed in Syria and then establish a mechanism for dialogue between the Syrian administration and the Syrian opposition “for a change of regime,” diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The contact group is expected to hold its second meeting at the ministerial level in the upcoming days in New York with the participation of Iran, Egypt and Turkey. The Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal will again be missing at the meeting due to health reasons, the sources said.