Japan, Turkey leaders agree on trade, climate fight
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The leaders of Japan and Turkey agreed on Friday to boost business ties and coordinate their efforts on global issues including climate change, the AFP reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda signed the agreement with President Abdullah Gul, who is the first Turkish head of state to visit Asia's largest economy.
"The two leaders, recognizing the economic potential of Turkey... expressed their continuous support for activities and efforts by the private sector to further promote economic relations," the AFP quoted a joint statement.
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate in building a new framework to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocols obligations expire in 2012.
Japan is the host country of the Kyoto Protocol but has been struggling to meet its commitments. It has pressed for the next climate treaty to cover both rich and developing nations.
The Turkish government submitted on Thursday the bill on the Kyoto Protocol to Turkish Parliament, Turkish TV channels reported.
The Kyoto Protocol is a pact agreed by governments at a 1997 U.N. conference in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
More than 170 nations have ratified the pact, which came into force in 2005 and Turkey is one of the few countries to have failed to do so.
The joint statement said Japan and Turkey "will be actively engaged in a process to establish an effective framework beyond 2012 in which the two countries will participate in a way commensurate with their international responsibilities."
They also reiterated their shared resolve to fight proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Gul and Fukudo decided to proclaim 2010 as "the Japanese-Turkish Tourism Exchange Year," in a bid to promote mutual relations in tourism, the Anatolian Agency reported.
Trade volume between the two countries stood at 3.9 billion dollars in 2007, with Japanese exports to Turkey accounting for nearly 95 percent of it, according to Turkey's official statistics.
Gul earlier met Japanese Emperor Akihito, Yohei Kono, the speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives, and executives of several leading Japanese companies.Photo: Reuters