JEDDAH: With the opening of the branch of a leading Turkish bank in Jeddah, trade and commerce between Turkey and Saudi Arabia will reach new heights, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan here on Saturday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Ziraat Bankasi's first branch in Rowadah district, Erdogan said, “It will further enhance cooperation between Turkey and the Kingdom in the fields of development, agriculture and construction. It has added a new chapter in our ties with Saudi Arabia. It will also immensely help thousands of Turkish pilgrims who come to the Kingdom for Haj and Umrah,” he added.

A large number of Saudi businessmen, officials and Turkish community members witnessed the glittering opening ceremony and lauded Erdogan for his efforts to boost Saudi-Turkish ties.

EAST HARTFORD, CT--(Marketwire - March 13, 2011) - Turkish Airlines (THY), the national carrier of Turkey, has again selected the International Aero Engines AG V2500 SelectOne™ engine to power its A320 family aircraft. IAE will deliver 10 firm engines in 2013.

This follow-on order is valued at up to $200 million and will power A321 aircraft.

"We have been very pleased with the exceptional relationship we share with International Aero Engines, as well as the performance of its V2500 engine," said Mr. Hamdi Topçu, Chairman of Turkish Airlines. "It has helped us to maintain our reputation that reinforces our image as a leader in one of the most demanding aviation markets."

PARIS — Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) of Japan, in its biggest-ever commercial satellite award, has bested its U.S. and European competitors to win a Turkish government contract to build two telecommunications satellites, Melco announced March 8.

The Turkish Transportation Ministry announced the deal March 7, saying it is valued at $571 million including the satellites’ launches in 2013 and 2014. A launch-vehicle selection was not announced. The long-running competition to build the Turksat 4A and Turksat 4B satellites featured bids by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., and a team composed of Astrium Satellites of Europe and Orbital Sciences of the United States.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey has recently decided to implement INKSURE's machine readable taggant solution for the security of the country's museum and historical site entrance tickets. The Ministry will implement the solution on entry tickets and smart museum entry cards for the next six years. As of 1 January 2011, the cards include a high-security hot-stamped hologram and the tickets include a hologram label. This solution makes the tickets and cards extremely difficult to counterfeit, yet very easy to authenticate in the field. The hologram contains overt security features created by MTM Security, a Turkish hologram manufacturer and covert security features created by InkSure Technologies, an American machine-readable taggant technology manufacturer.