Turkish President Gül to visit Tunisia next week

ANKARA

Abdullah Gül will visit Tunisia next week.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül will visit Tunisia next week, Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz announced yesterday as he held talks with his Tunisian counterpart aimed at sharing Turkey’s experience in economic development.

Speaking ahead of talks with Tunisia’s Planning and Development Minister Jameleddine Gharbi, Yılmaz said the meeting would lay the ground for Gül’s March 6-9 visit to the North African country, where the Arab Spring uprisings began and which was the first to unseat its ruler. Turkey is ready to share expertise with Tunisia in areas such as development, the encouragement of foreign investment, employment-boosting policies, the reduction of regional disparities and local administration, Yılmaz said. “Development and democracy go together. Political stability is key to economic development,” he added.
Gharbi said his country viewed Turkey as a model: “Tunisia carried out a revolution. Now it’s time for us to speed up economic and social development. We would like to make use of Turkey’s experience.”