DELIVERY OF PRESIDENT BUSH - PM BROWN LETTER TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001788 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018 TAGS: EAGR EAID TU SUBJECT: DELIVERY OF PRESIDENT BUSH - PM BROWN LETTER TO PRESIDENT GUL REF: WHITE HOUSE 261827Z SEP 08 Classified By: ECONOMIC COUNSELOR DALE EPPLER FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D. ¶1. (SBU) On October 14, jointly with the British Embassy, we delivered a copy of the President Bush - PM Brown letter to Hoseyin Avni Aksoy, Head of the MFA Multilateral Economic Affairs Office. Aksoy said he would consult with the Ministries of Agriculture and Industry on the proposed Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food, and expected that an official response would be forthcoming from President Gul reflecting GOT thinking on the proposal. ¶2. (C) Concerning assistance to the Horn of Africa, Aksoy said Turkey has a TIKA (Turkish assistance agency) team working in East Africa now, and likely would continue to channel its food aid to the region through the World Food Program. Any immediate increase in aid would depend on the assistance budget. ¶3. (C) Concerning food trade restrictions, Aksoy said that despite importing unusually large quantities of food this year due to drought, he was not aware of any recent or expected changes to Turkey's food export laws. The Foreign Trade Ministry has asked to clear all export licenses for wheat and cereals, but Turkey has not put these products under a control regime or restricted food exports as some Southeast Asian countries did this year. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON