Athens, Ankara seek further warming of ties to boost trade

Turkish-Greek mutual trade, which reached $6.6 billion in ten years, promises even a larger potential, the prime ministers of the two neighbors believe.

Turkey and Greece are set to foster their economic ties further, with both sides pleased at the state of their existing relationship, the prime ministers of the two neighboring countries said yesterday.

“We have increased the trade volume between the two countries by more than 100 percent in the last decade,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday in Istanbul at the Turkey-Greece Business Forum, also attended by his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras.

Samaras was on a one-day official visit to Turkey during which he met Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül, before attending the forum.

The trade volume between Turkey and Greece reached $5 billion last year despite the economic crisis, Erdoğan said, adding that even that level is not enough.