Turkey's trade volume with UAE reaches 9 bln USD

Turkish State Minister Zafer Caglayan said Tuesday trade volume between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached 9 billion U.S. dollars last year, Xinhua quoted Anadolu news agency as reporting.
   Caglayan, who is visiting the UAE, said the country was a very important trade partner of Turkey and ranked the third in Turkey's exports in 2008.
   "Thirty-five Turkish companies undertook 77 projects worth of 6. 2 billion U.S. dollars in the UAE and concluded some of them, " said the minister.
   He said there is a serious drop in Turkey's foreign trade after global crisis. There is also decline in Turkey's iron and steel exports to the region as constructions particularly in this region slowed down.
   "The target of my visit was to communicate a message of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Abu Dhabi's Emir Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The message reaffirmed that Turkish industrialists, entrepreneurs and exporters would continue to work with businessmen of Abu Dhabi and that the investments would continue."
   Caglayan said UAE's investments in Turkey amounted to 5 billion U.S. dollars.