Turkey to host Central American foreign ministers

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

ANKARA

The second forum of ministers of foreign affairs between Turkey and Central American Integration System (SICA) will be held Thursday in Istanbul.

Foreign ministers of the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica will be attending the forum, a foreign ministry source said, adding a Nicaraguan foreign ministry adviser, and deputy foreign minister of Panama would also be present.

Ahead of the forum, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales Moscos and Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas will visit capital Ankara on Wednesday to hold bilateral meetings, the source added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Guatemalan counterpart will also attend the opening ceremony of the Guatemalan Embassy in Ankara.

The first forum between Turkey and SICA was held in February 2015 in Guatemala, during which Turkey signed an agreement to become an extra-regional observer to the organization.

SICA was established in 1991 to extend cooperation among Central American countries for regional peace, democracy and economic development.

It has eight member states -- Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize and Dominican Republic -- and 10 extra-regional observers, including Germany, Spain, Japan and China.