Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10ANKARA73
2010-01-15 16:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:
TURKEY ASSEMBLING A MIDDLE EASTERN FREE-TRADE ZONE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000073
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2015
TAGS: PREL ECON TU SY JO LE
SUBJECT: TURKEY ASSEMBLING A MIDDLE EASTERN FREE-TRADE ZONE
Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, for reasons 1.4(b,d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000073
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2015
TAGS: PREL ECON TU SY JO LE
SUBJECT: TURKEY ASSEMBLING A MIDDLE EASTERN FREE-TRADE ZONE
Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, for reasons 1.4(b,d)
1. (C) During a January 14 readout on Lebanese Prime Minister
Saad Hariri's visit to Ankara earlier this week, MFA Syria
and Lebanon desk officer Burak Rende said a planned
trade-liberalization agreement and recently signed
visa-waiver agreement with Beirut will advance Foreign
Minister Davutoglu's ambition to assemble a core
constellation of Middle Eastern countries into a defacto
free-trade zone centered on Turkey. According to Rende,
Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are the early candidates for this
core constellation of countries. He did not rule out the
eventual extension of an established free-trade zone to
include Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
2. (SBU) Arriving in Turkey the evening of January 10, Hariri
led a delegation of eight ministers, who signed six
agreements, including the visa-waiver agreement, with Turkish
counterparts. Mostly formatted as MoUs, the agreements
provide legal foundation for bilateral cooperation in the
areas of health care, electrical grid interconnection,
agriculture and the mutual acceptance of mariners' licenses.
The two countries also signed Turkey's "standard military
agreement," which, Rende said, will enable training and
counterparts' exchanges.
3. (C) COMMENT: President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan's
warm reception of the Lebanese delegation demonstrates the
GoT's support for the Hariri government and its efforts to
consolidate stability in Lebanon. The visa-waiver agreement
and planned trade-liberalizaion agreement may serve as
building blocks towards realization of Davutoglu's striking
ambition for a new Turkey-centric architecture in the Middle
East.
Jeffrey
"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND EUR/SE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2015
TAGS: PREL ECON TU SY JO LE
SUBJECT: TURKEY ASSEMBLING A MIDDLE EASTERN FREE-TRADE ZONE
Classified By: POL Counselor Daniel O'Grady, for reasons 1.4(b,d)
1. (C) During a January 14 readout on Lebanese Prime Minister
Saad Hariri's visit to Ankara earlier this week, MFA Syria
and Lebanon desk officer Burak Rende said a planned
trade-liberalization agreement and recently signed
visa-waiver agreement with Beirut will advance Foreign
Minister Davutoglu's ambition to assemble a core
constellation of Middle Eastern countries into a defacto
free-trade zone centered on Turkey. According to Rende,
Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are the early candidates for this
core constellation of countries. He did not rule out the
eventual extension of an established free-trade zone to
include Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
2. (SBU) Arriving in Turkey the evening of January 10, Hariri
led a delegation of eight ministers, who signed six
agreements, including the visa-waiver agreement, with Turkish
counterparts. Mostly formatted as MoUs, the agreements
provide legal foundation for bilateral cooperation in the
areas of health care, electrical grid interconnection,
agriculture and the mutual acceptance of mariners' licenses.
The two countries also signed Turkey's "standard military
agreement," which, Rende said, will enable training and
counterparts' exchanges.
3. (C) COMMENT: President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan's
warm reception of the Lebanese delegation demonstrates the
GoT's support for the Hariri government and its efforts to
consolidate stability in Lebanon. The visa-waiver agreement
and planned trade-liberalizaion agreement may serve as
building blocks towards realization of Davutoglu's striking
ambition for a new Turkey-centric architecture in the Middle
East.
Jeffrey
"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"