Turkey, Japan to step up cooperation in Middle East issues

The two sides agreed to launch joint efforts to help establish order in Afghanistan and set up joint working groups between ministries to carry out more political consultations, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency of telling a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada in Ankara on Monday.

"We think that we could work together in training the Afghan police force and we can hold joint economic development projects," Davutoglu said, noting that Turkey supported Japanese government's Afghanistan strategy.

Japan pledged in November a maximum of 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid to Afghanistan for redevelopment over the next five years.

Turkey and Japan also agreed that Iran should not possess nuclear weapons and hoped the issue be settled through diplomacy, Okada was quoted of saying.

Turkey made great contributions to peace and stability with its strategic position on the junction of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, said Okada, who is in a visit to the Turkish capital.

In a speech at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, Okada said Japan wanted to contribute more to the solution of problems in the Middle East region and would continue to provide aid for Iraq; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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