ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Wednesday ''trade volume between Turkey and the People's Republic of China has been increasing. I believe that our exports to China will increase up to 500 million U.S. dollars till the end of 2003.''
State Minister Tuzmen met with Chinese Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan and accompanying delegation.
Speaking at the meeting, Tuzmen said, ''friendly relations and trade volume between Turkey and the People's Republic of China have been further improving. As you know, an agreement of 200 million U.S. dollars was signed in Istanbul yesterday between the two countries. The agreement will make an important contribution to further improvement of our bilateral commercial relations.''
''There has been a trade deficit in trade volume between the two countries against Turkey for a long time. This deficit will decrease when our commercial relations further increase. Our relations with the People's Republic of China have accelerated in recent years. Exports from Turkey to China increased by 70 percent in 2003. I believe that our exports to China will increase up to 500 million U.S. dollars till the end of 2003,'' he said.
Noting that Chinese Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan paid his first official visit to Turkey and that he came to Turkey with a delegation of nearly 100 Chinese businessmen, Tuzmen added, ''this visit is a concrete sign of importance attributed by the People's Republic of China to relations with Turkey. Meanwhile, investment and tourism dimension of relations between the two countries has begun gaining importance.''
Meanwhile, Chinese Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan said in his part, ''Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to the People's Republic of China last January as leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). His visit accelerated our bilateral relations.''
''I believe that relations between Turkish and Chinese private sectors will also further improve in the course of time. There is an important potential of cooperation between our countries. During my visit to Turkey, I observed that both government officials and Turkish businessmen attributed importance to the imbalance in our trade volume against Turkey. This problem will be resolved,'' he added.
(UK) 27.08.2003