Turkey-Spain, Turkish PM Erdogan in Madrid

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan led a governmental delegation to Spain for intergovernmental meetings, but the visit will primarily focus on increasing bilateral investment at a time when such trade figures have been falling as daily Hurriyet reports. Turkish exports to Spain declined 13.25% to 1.56 billion euros in the first six months of the year, while imports also fell 2% to about 2.3 billion euros, according to data from the Spanish Commerce and Competition Ministry. As such, Erdogan and eight ministers will visit Spain to present investment opportunities in Turkey to the crisis-battered Spanish government. The fourth intergovernmental high-level cooperation meeting between Turkey and Spain is set to be held in Madrid today, at which Erdogan and eight accompanying ministers will focus on investment opportunities in Turkey for Spanish companies. The first of the cooperation meetings was held in 2009. This year's meeting will bring together Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at a high-level cooperation meeting for the first time. The talks with the Spanish ministers today will be like a double-sided cabinet. There will be talks with Spanish CEOs and chairmen within the scope of the mission. The delegations will discuss the results of decisions taken in former meetings, and the Turkish delegation will present investment opportunities in Turkey to the Spanish government.