HM King's visit to Turkey to boost relations, widen cooperation

Manama, Aug. 24 (BNA): His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's visit to Turkey is highly significant for both countries and their peoples, Turkish Ambassador to Bahrain Hatun Demirer has said. "It is a very important visit because we have very close relations," she said. "Our diplomatic relations date from the beginnings of the 1970s, but our relations are certainly much older. Actually in my room I have a picture showing a presidential visit from Turkey to Bahrain in the 1950s. So, during those days, we had this level of state visits. We have really very deep relations between Turkey and Bahrain and we value them dearly." The ambassador said that the current context added significance to the visit. "Certainly His Majesty the King's visit is very important especially during this period because my country has faced a lot of difficult times – first there were back-to-back terror attacks and lately there was the coup attempt which was a big distress that my country had to deal with. Like any country or nation we expect to see our friends stand right beside us, and Bahrain was one of them, the first one. So, we are grateful to Bahrain and to His Majesty," Demirer told Bahrain News Agency (BNA). The envoy added the visit by HM King Hamad was highly appreciated. "His Majesty's visit will be the first one at the level of head-of-state from this region and from the Arab world to Turkey. It is a big show of solidarity to my country and people never ever forget our friends' support during these hard times. We value our friends' support to us after this threat. This visit will give a boost to our bilateral relations in all fields, and especially I hope that it will bring about some positive effects on the commercial relations." The visit also will give new opportunities to both sides to take up some regional and world matters, she added. "In our region, there have been some challenging developments over the last five years and they will be taken up in the discussions. Bahrain and Turkey support each other and they are trying to do their best actually to bring security, stability and peace to this region. We are cooperating closely in many international platforms. His Majesty's visit will give us opportunity to go over all those issues bilateral and multilateral sides. We are preparing to have a perfect visit for His Majesty and personally I believe that it will be a really very historical visit and it will have a positive effect for the forthcoming years and for further developing the relations between Turkey and Bahrain," Demirer said. The ambassador said that she expected wider commercial relations and more interaction in the trade area. "The private sectors are generally open to this kind of high-level visits and they will feel more secure to interact. So, it will be for the best interest of the two nations, because our bilateral trade will increase. There are opportunities on both sides. The Turkish economy is steadily growing. It is the sixth largest economy in Europe and the 17th largest economy in the world. Bahrain has also immense opportunities for the business world, an on-going development programme and wide spectrum of immense opportunities. It is also one of the most business-friendly countries in this region. The aluminum sector and the petrochemical sectors are among the most advanced in the world. Ina addition, Bahrain has the best financial and banking sectors. The private sector does not need more that. Bahrain has everything. In Turkey we have a big economy, a big population, and a big market. The private sectors in the two countries should seize these opportunities," she said.