Turkey, Belarus eye trade volume of $1.5 billion

ANKARA

Turkey and Belarus have the potential to reach a trade volume goal of $1.5 billion, Anadolu Agency quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as saying on April 16.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko following bilateral meetings, Erdoğan said: "Our bilateral trade volume goal is now $1.5 billion, we have the means to achieve this and encourage investors."

Erdoğan pointed out that they discussed military, political, commercial and cultural relations and evaluated further steps to be taken in the direction of mutual development.

Noting that both countries signed six agreements to boost their trade volume, Erdoğan said they are working on mutual projects to boost cooperation between two countries in the field of transport and industry.

Erdoğan said he was pleased with the increasing number of Belarusian tourists coming to Turkey. He said 245,000 tourists visited Turkey in 2018, compared to 113,000 in 2016, adding the figures were expected to increase further.

He went on to say that relations between both countries were based on mutual respect, adding Turkey was the first country to recognize Belarus.

Lukashenko, for his part, said Belarus gave utmost importance to its relations with Turkey and eyed further cooperation between both countries.

"We don't have any difference of opinions on any topic, the core of our cooperation is economy. We discussed joint investments, chemistry, agriculture and textile fields," he added.