Turkey, China pledge to boost trade relations

BEIJING

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited China’s Vice-President Wang Qishan on June 15 in Beijing, where the two pledged to boost relations between the two countries.

“Turkey has a will to develop its bilateral relations with China,” Çavuşoğlu said on June 15 after his visit to Wang in Beijing, reiterating Turkey’s wish to strengthen ties with China.

Çavuşoğlu has visited China from June 14 to June 15 at the invitation of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He stated to the Global Times on June 15 that the “visit is to follow up discussions that the two countries presidents had on the phone in April.”

“They agreed that we should further strengthen and deepen our bilateral cooperation. There are strategic projects that we need to follow up on. And China has become more active and visible on regional issues, including the Middle East,” Çavuşoğlu told the Global Times.

During his two-day visit, the foreign minister also visited China’s technology firm Huawei’s research and development center in Beijing and also had a meeting with representatives of business circles in China. Recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and China’s President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation in April, Wang said he and the foreign minister had a positive meeting.

“It is an indication of the importance that Turkey gives to China because Çavuşoğlu visited China at a time where there is an upcoming presidential and parliamentary election in Turkey,” Wang said.