Switzerland, Turkey eye stronger ties

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Swiss Economy Minister Schneider- Ammann (L) and his Turkish counterpart Çağlayan (R) met in Ankara. AA photo

Turkey’s exports to Switzerland quintupled since 2002 up to $1.5 billion last year, adding that trade volume between the two countries reached $6.5 billion by 2011-end, according to Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who hosted his Swedish counterpart Johann N. Schneider-Ammann in Ankara yesterday.

“Today we agreed on working together to bring that figure further up between Turkey and Switzerland,” Çağlayan told the journalists during a joint press meeting.

The Turkish minister said efforts to draw a legal groundwork for trade between the two countries were about to finalize, adding that another important issue was cooperation in social security system.

Cooperation in aviation

Schneider-Ammann, on his part, said that apart from commercial cooperation, Switzerland was willing to work with Turkey in third countries.

The visiting minister said free trade and double-taxation agreements would complete the legal groundwork for economic cooperation between the two countries, adding that his country was also willing to boost cooperation in civil aviation.