Turkey expressed Wednesday its willingness to create a free trade zone with Algeria in order to boost bilateral trade relations while preserving the economic interests of both countries.
"A free trade zone agreement will give a new impetus to our business relationships, while preserving the interests of both countries. We want it to be inked as soon as possible," chairperson of the Algerian-Turkish business council, Emre Aykar said at an economic forum between the two countries held as part of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Algeria.
Aykar said that his country wanted to double trade with Algeria by 5 billion by 2016, as it is currently estimated at 10 USD billion.
"We support the Turkish businessmen in Algeria to discover business opportunities first in trade, investment and building and public works," he said, stressing that Algeria is among the "target markets" of Turkish SMEs.
However, Algeria pleaded at the forum for a win-win economic partnership with Turkey, which exceeds the commercial framework and strengthens the productive investments in the country with a guarantee of transfer of technology and know-how.
Aykar moreover stated the "difficulties" encountered by Turkish traders in Algeria citing that the visa obligation and the payment of a bank guarantee for companies tendering for public construction contracts.