Turkey and China determined to boost mutual cooperation

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping who has visited Turkey upon the invitation of President Abdullah Gul yesterday attended the Turkish-Chinese Business Forum in Istanbul, where 29 investment agreements totaling $1.3 billion were signed between companies from the two countries. Speaking at the forum, Xi said that Turkey has become one of the most attractive countries in the world and that the Chinese people were happy with achievements of Turkish people. Xi added that both China and Turkey, which are located at opposite ends of the Asian continent, complemented each other and the amount of deals Chinese companies have signed in Turkey in the past decade reached $10 billion. Xi added that the concrete cooperation between China and Turkey should be deepened and the two countries should take necessary steps aimed at liberalization of trade and investments and accelerate the improvement of world economy. Speaking at the forum, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said that the two countries should increase the number and scale of such mutual business forums and trade fairs to better understand each other and that a new incentive package to be announced by Turkey would allow Chinese companies to change all of their plans about Turkey. Caglayan also announced that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan planned a visit to Beijing in April and he said this visit could be an opportunity to boost trade ties for the future. Delivering a speech at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan called on Chinese banks to do further business in Turkey. "The two countries have efforts with regard to mutual licenses. We want Chinese banks to do further business and open more branches in Turkey, and see an increase in the number of Chinese banks which take Turkey as a basis. We also want Turkish banks to operate more actively in China. These are important issues aimed at paving the way for trade and investments," Babacan said. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Babacan also said that a process of dialogue would be initiated between Energy Ministry and relevant Chinese units with regard to nuclear energy. Stating that Turkey aims at having a total of three nuclear power plants by 2023, Babacan said that nuclear talks with China would focus on building the country's third plant.