German Chancellor Schroeder due in Turkey

Releasing a statement on Friday, the Prime Ministry Office said that German Chancellor Schroeder would pay an official visit to Turkey between February 22 and 24, 2004.

Schroeder will also be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Following their tete-a-tete meeting, Prime Minister Erdogan and Chancellor Schroeder will preside the meetings between Turkish and German delegations.

Schroeder is also scheduled to meet with opposing Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal.

On February 23, German Chancellor Schroeder will proceed to Istanbul to attend the meeting of Turkish-German Economic Forum.

He will partake in a luncheon to be hosted in his honor by German Chamber of Commerce and the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD).

Together with Prime Minister Erdogan, German Chancellor Schroeder will attend the inauguration of Sugozu Energy Station, the biggest German investment in Turkey, in Iskenderun town of southern province of Hatay on February 24.

German Chancellor Schroeder is expected to depart from Turkey the same day.

Besides bilateral relations between Turkey and Germany, Turkey’s European Union (EU) membership process, the Cyprus issue, recent developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, and NATO Summit to be held in Istanbul in June, and other regional and international issues are expected to be brought onto agenda during German Chancellor Schroeder’s visit to Turkey.