Visiting Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli said on Saturday that Georgia and Turkey will modernize two border crossings in order to boost bilateral trade.

Noghaideli made the statement at a joint press conference in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul with Rifat Hisarciklioglu, chairman of Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, according to the semi-official Anatolia news agency.

The modernization project, designed to better facilitate the flow of goods and people, will be launched in June 2006 and completed in April 2007, Noghaideli was quoted as saying.

Under the project, the Sarp border crossing will be modernized at a cost of 12 million U.S. dollars, while the Sarpi border crossing, 10 million dollars.

Hisarciklioglu told reporters that visa procedures between Turkey and Georgia will be scrapped on Feb. 10, another move aimed at enhancing economic cooperation.

Noghaideli arrived in Istanbul on Saturday on a two-day working trip and he is scheduled to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later.

Source: Xinhua