Turkey's industry minister said on Thursday that Turkish and Syrian companies could cooperate in Turkey, Syria and in third countries.

Turkish Industry & Trade Minister Nihat Ergun visited an organized industrial zone in the Syrian capital of Damascus together with Syria's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah al-Dardari.

Speaking during the visit, Ergun said industrial zones were of great importance for the improvement of a country's industry, besides, they provided numerous advantages in terms of infrastructure, energy and management.

Commenting on the improvement in Turkey's industry, Ergun said, "our industrialists now have the capacity to compete with Europe's industry".

Ergun said Turkey used to export agricultural products in the past, but now 90 percent of its exports comprised of industrial products that were mainly sent to EU countries.

He said openness to competition strengthened the country's industry.

Pointing to the importance of establishing cooperation between the industry sector and universities, Ergun said the sector and universities needed to cooperate with each other in order to turn information into technology.

Ergun said such cooperation developed technology, reduced production costs, speeded up production and improved quality.

The Turkish minister also said that Turkish and Syrian industrialists should cooperate and become partners.

"We want Turkish and Syrian companies to make investments in each other's countries and to cooperate even in third countries. From now on, we will carry out activities to strengthen the relevant infrastructure and to provide a partnership between them," Ergun said.

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister al-Dardari said in his part that scientific researches and dialogue between industrialists were essential elements in Turkey and Syria's cooperation in industry sector.

In addition to his meeting with al-Dardari, Ergun also held talks with Syrian Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani on Thursday.


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