Turkey, Brunei to boost cooperation

ANKARA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that his country has signed agreements with Brunei to boost economic, commercial and technical cooperation, as well as to remove visa requirements between the two countries.

"Brunei Investment Agency has strong investments in many countries. We believe that they will also include Turkey on their list to make investments," Gul was quoted as saying by the semi- official Anatolia news agency at a joint press conference with visiting Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

"We are happy to welcome the Sultan in Turkey and I believe his visit will open a strong page between the two nations, and it will lead to many positive developments in boosting trade, as well as cooperation in economy and in defense industry," said Gul, who stressed that cooperation in energy, especially natural gas and liquid natural gas, could be widened.

For his part, Bolkiah, the first Brunei official ever to visit Turkey, hailed the two sides' cooperation within the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for many years.

Bolkiah meanwhile said that both sides underlined the importance of establishing permanent representations in each other 's countries so as to further improve cooperation.