ALGIERS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The volume of trade exchange between Algeria and Turkey will gradually be raised to 10 billion U.S. dollars in the future, said visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
In his opening notes at the Turkish-Algerian Business Forum, Erdogan hailed Algeria as "Turkey's largest partner in Africa," vowing to raise bilateral trade exchange volume.
The volume of trade exchange, currently around 3.5 billion dollars annually, would be raised to 5 billion dollars within a short period, Erdogan said, before hitting the goal of 10 billion dollars in the future.
Erdogan specified such a goal could be reached especially thanks to all the facilities offered by Algeria to Turkish businessmen wishing to enter the North African nation's market.
Erdogan said "cooperation between the two countries will be reinforced after the signing of seven cooperation agreements in various sectors, such as tourism, energy and agriculture."
The Turkish leader further noted that Algerian energy giant Sonatrach and a group of Turkish energy companies will cooperate in a 1 billion-dollar project to establish a plant for the production of 450 tons of propene per year.
Erdogan expressed his satisfaction with the quality of the projects carried out by the Turkish companies in Algeria, including those related to iron, steel and textile.
Erdogan co-chaired the business forum with Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.
This business forum brought together a large number of Algerian and Turkish companies and businessmen, as it aims at giving a new impetus to bilateral trade exchanges.
Earlier on Monday, Algeria and Turkey inked seven partnership agreements and memorandums of understanding in the sectors of energy, higher education, diplomacy, culture, tourism and agriculture, aiming at reinforcing partnership between the two nations.
Erdogan is also due to hold talks with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika later on Tuesday to discuss bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism and ways to boost political and economic relations.
Regional and international issues, including the war in Syria, will also be on the agenda.
