The Philippines and Turkey signed an Air
Services Agreement to boost tourism and spur greater economic activity between
the two nations.
President Benigno S. Aquino III and Turkish
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is in the country for a two-day official
visit, witnessed the signing of the agreement.
President Aquino said that through the newly
signed Air Services Agreement, the Philippines aims to improve trade and
tourism opportunities with Turkey, given the increase in the number of citizens
visiting both countries.
"For the Philippines, this agreement will
help further expand the operations of our own air services, and is part of our
efforts to show to the world that we are indeed more open for business,"
he said.
The Philippines is also working on a memorandum
of understanding on tourism cooperation, which will cover such key areas as the
improvement of investments, marketing, and cultural exchanges, according to the
President.
"With Turkey as our partner, we look
forward to further exploring areas of engagement that will open more doors of
opportunity for our respective citizens," he said.
The Chief Executive said he hopes to convene the
inaugural meeting of the Philippines-Turkey Joint Economic Commission in Ankara
by next year to outline necessary measures in realizing the two countries'
objective.
Currently, approximately 5,000 Philippine citizens are living in Turkey and there are approximately 200 Turkish citizens living in the Philippines.
He further said that his country wants to enhance its relations with the Philippines on critically important sectors, such as trade and tourism.
"The trade volume today is $300 million, around $350 million. We need to reach to $1 billion dollars as early as possible. Therefore, we decided to complete all the agreements and to have this joint economic commission," he said. (PCOO News Release)
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