Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey paid a one-day visit to the Netherlands on 6 March 2012, upon the invitation of H.E. Uri Rosenthal, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On the occasion of the visit, the fifth meeting of the ‘Turkish-Dutch Bilateral (Wittenburg) Conference” was held in Rotterdam, as well. At the meetings between the delegations under the chairmanship of Mr. Davutoğlu and Mr. Rosenthal, all aspects of bilateral relations between Turkey and the Netherlands including economy, immigration, security and energy were discussed. Besides, views were exchanged on Turkey’s EU accession process, Cyprus as well as current regional and international issues.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu and his Dutch counterpart Rosenthal held a joint press conference following their meetings. Pointing out the 400th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands, Ministers said more than 200 activities including high level visits will be organized in 2012. Mr. Davutoğlu stressed that Turkish-Dutch relations are not only relations between the two states but long-established relations between the two nations. Moreover, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said the Netherlands is one of the countries to which Turkish citizens are well integrated.

FOOTNOTE:

The “Turkish-Dutch Bilateral (Wittenburg) Conference” which was brought to life by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in 2008 by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries, aims at ensuring the enhancement of Turkish-Dutch bilateral relations and cooperation between Turkey and the Netherlands through meetings of specific Working Groups and exchanging views on the subjects of common interest.

During the fifth “Turkish-Dutch Conference” Working Groups on “Cultural Relations”, “Economy and Energy”, “Migration and Integration” and “Cooperation Against Transnational Threats” met with the participation of high level officials.