UPDATE- Dominican Republic to open embassy in Turkey

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Meltem Bulur and Zuhal Demirci

ANKARA (AA) - The Dominican Republic plans to open an embassy in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister confirmed on Wednesday.

“We would like to open an embassy in your country within four, five months,” Miguel Vargas told reporters after meeting his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.

Turkey and the Dominican Republic signed a joint declaration of intent concerning cooperation on many areas including economy and defense, Cavusoglu said.

Ankara opened its embassy in the Dominican Republic in 2013.

The pair discussed bilateral ties, regional issues and trade during the first official foreign ministerial visit from the Dominican Republic to Turkey.

Turkey already cooperates with the Dominican Republic in responding to natural disasters. The HOPEFOR initiative -- which aims to improve the effectiveness and coordination of military and civil defense assets in case of natural disaster -- was formed in 2011 as a joint initiative of Turkey, Qatar and the Dominican Republic.

Istanbul will host a meeting of Turkish and Central American ministers on Thursday.

Foreign ministers of the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica are expected to participate as part of the Central American Integration System forum.

* Ahmet Sait Akcay contributed to this report from Ankara.