Turkey-France JEC meeting starts in Ankara

"Bilateral relations should be further improved," Caglayan said while speaking at Turkey-France 2nd Term Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting in Ankara.

Caglayan and French Minister of State for foreign trade Anne-Marie Idrac, who is paying a visit to Ankara, addressed the JEC meeting.

Caglayan said there was regression in foreign trade in 2009 because of global crisis, noting, "there is a 22 percent recession in Turkey's foreign trade in 2009."

Caglayan said there was not increase in trade with France but at the same time was not affected as much as the general regression.

Caglayan said total direct investments amounted to 60-65 billion USD in 2002-2009, and noted that investments of France in Turkey reached 4.4 billion USD. He said there were important French investments in Turkey like Renault and Carrefour.

"Some sectors in Turkey and France are complementary. Automotive sector is an example to this. Turkey and France may cooperate in transportation and energy," Caglayan said, noting that Turkey was a country that may make 120 billion USD investments in the next decade.

Caglayan said Turkey has a very big potential in renewable energy, adding that Turkey and France could make cooperation in the third countries.

French minister said trade volume between Turkey and France should be upgraded, urging "shopping dynamics" to be boosted.

The guest minister said Turkey and France could work together in Africa, the Balkans and Central Asia.

French Minister of State for foreign trade Anne-Marie Idrac said France was one of the most important investors in Turkey but Turkish companies did not undertake much investments in France.

/World Bulletin/