ACEH SEEKING PERMANENT COOPERATION WITH TURKEY

Banda Aceh, Feb 22 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Aceh province and Turkey wish to establish permanent and strategic cooperative relations after having collaborated occasionally in the fields of education, culture, housing and health so far, Aceh Vice Governor Muhammad Nazar said.

"The strategic cooperation we are going to build is developing grassroot economy through among others investment in the industrial, agricultural, fishery and plantation sectors," he said here on Monday.

He made the statement in a meeting with 20 businessmen from Turkey led by Duzce Mayor Ismail Bayram and including the chairman of Duzce's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nusret Ozsoy and chief of Duzce's tourism service, Sinan Kadri Karaman.

Nazar said the arrival of the Duzce delegation was a follow up to the visit by the Aceh government officials to that country some time ago.

"Several months ago we visited Turkey in the framework of cooperation in the fields of culture, education, housing and health," he said.

To support the permanent cooperation plan, he said, a sister-city relationship would be established between Banda Aceh and Duzce. "The program will work if a representative office is set up in each of the cities," he said.

In the meeting the Duzce delegation had asked for an explanation on various investment potentials in the region which hopefully could be part of the cooperation program in the future.