The two countries are allies in NATO, they can also be partners in business, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Turkish President Abdullah Gul said during the Polish-Turkish economic forum on Thursday. 

The economic forum brought Polish and Turkish businesspeople to Istanbul as part of the celebration of the 600th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Poland and Turkey.

This year also marks 25 years since Poland shifted from the „pie-in-the-sky (communist) economy” to a free market economy, the Polish president said. „In those 25 years we have not only remodelled our economic system but also our mentality,” he added.

Thanks to tough reforms, Poland is systematically climbing up the World Bank’s ease-of-doing-business ranking list, Komorowski said. Poland managed to get through the economic crisis relatively unscathed thanks to reforms, but also its high-quality human resources and a good education system, he added.

Poland supports Turkey’s European aspirations, Komorowski assured. Looser visa regimes would make it easier for Turkish and European Union business to operate as well as boosting tourism, he added.

Poland achieved great success over a short time, the Turkish president said, and plays a significant role in the EU.

Trade turnover between the two countries grew ten-fold in the course of one decade, from USD 580 million in 2002 to over USD 5 billion in 2010, Gul said. Liberalisation of the visa system would be sure to increase trade exchange, he added.

Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO and will continue to maintain it in view of its location in an uneasy region of the world, Gul also said. The defence sector, especially the Navy and air defence, is an area in which Polish-Turkish cooperation could develop, he added. (PAP)