CAIRO - Egypt will participate in the International Business Forum (IBF) and the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Co-operation of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (COMCEC) which will be held next week in the Turkish capital, said Huseyin Avni Botsali, the Turkish Ambassador in Egypt. "Turkey and Egypt are partners and we want Egypt to participate in these events, in order to communicate and consult on its future," Botsali said in a press conference in Cairo on Wednesday night. "We want Egypt to be our partner in the international markets," Botsali added. The Turkish diplomat said that President Mohamed Morsi's recent visit to Turkey was 'very successful'. The two countries have a combined ‘population market' of 160 million and almost $500 billion in combined foreign trade, while their combined GDPs amount to over $1 trillion. Yet Egypt and Turkey have even greater potential from a regional and international perspective, given the Afro-Euro-Asia markets in which these two countries have joint operations. Turkish Premier Recep Tayyib Erdogan, accompanied by 13 ministers, will be in Cairo in November for the meeting of a high-level strategic council established between the two countries to bolster ties. "Turkey could be Egypt's gate into Europe and Egypt could be Turkey's gate into Africa," he said. "We hope to work together to expand our markets at the international level; we also hope to co-operate with Libya, which is beginning to show signs of stability, and Sudan."
