ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will receive the highest state welcome during his official visit to the United States next week.
Erdogan will be welcomed in two separate full military honors, one at the airport and the other at the White House upon his arrival in Washington as the formal guest of US President Barack Obama.
Erdogan will stay at Washington's Blair House, the official state guest house for the US president.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, European Union Minister and the Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis as well as a group of nearly 100 Turkish businesspeople will accompany Erdogan.
Obama will spent an whole day with Erdogan and the two leaders will make a joint press conference after their bilateral meeting. Obama will also host dinner for Erdogan.
Economic issues to top the agenda of the visit
The leaders will mainly discuss economic issues as well as allegations over chemical weapons use by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meetings will be held to incorporate Turkey in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement which will be signed between the US and the EU.
As per the Customs Union Agreement Turkey had signed with the EU, Turkey needs to apply the same tariffs as the EU to industrial products imported from third countries.
The country will be obliged to lower customs duties in line with a potential Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) the EU will sign with the US, but it would not benefit from similar tariff reductions that will be made by the US as Ankara is not a member of the EU.
