Türkiye aims to enhance economic relations with China, its largest trading partner in Asia, and to achieve a more balanced structure in trade, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on Thursday.
Visiting Beijing for high-level talks with Chinese officials this week, Şimşek attended the second meeting of the Türkiye-China Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee (ICC) and the first meeting of the joint working group on the harmonization of the Middle Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
"We met with Chinese Vice Premier Mr. Zhang Guoqing in Beijing for the Türkiye-China Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee meeting," the minister said in a post on X.
"We decided to increase investments between our two countries and strengthen our cooperation in financing infrastructure investments, energy, tourism, civil aviation and agriculture," he added.
In his speech following the committee meeting, Şimşek recalled Türkiye and China's strong cultural and human ties and ancient civilizational pasts, which have had thousands of years of interaction as the western and eastern sides of the historical Silk Road, and that this common past has enabled cooperation between the countries to be built on solid foundations.
Stating that China has stood by Türkiye during its difficult days and that China was one of the first countries to extend a helping hand during the major earthquake disaster in February 2023, Şimşek expressed his gratitude to China on behalf of the Turkish people for its support and solidarity.
He also noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping have resolutely advanced bilateral relations in every field in line with their common understanding and vision, mutual respect and the common interests of the peoples, and that he believes that the second ICC meeting will make a significant contribution to increasing cooperation between Türkiye and China and strengthening mutual political trust.
Noting that China is Türkiye's first largest trade partner in Asia and third largest in the world, Şimşek said, "While strengthening our trade with China, we wish to achieve a more sustainable and balanced structure. We believe that this can be achieved through increasing mutual investments, cooperation in energy, financing infrastructure investments, tourism, civil aviation and agriculture."
Expressing satisfaction with the recent increase in interest of Chinese investors in Türkiye, Şimşek stated that Ankara supports China's Belt and Road Initiative and said that they see the first meeting of the joint working group on the Harmonization of Türkiye's Middle Corridor Initiative and China's Belt and Road Initiative held in Beijing yesterday as an important development.
Tourism cooperation
The minister also pointed out they wanted to enhance cooperation in the field of tourism, emphasizing that they want to host more tourists from China and that increasing reciprocal flights will contribute to strengthening the historical ties between the two nations.
Moreover, he said they attach importance to strengthening cooperation with China in industrial transformation, green transformation, digital transformation, transportation, finance, culture and health in the coming period.
"We think that Türkiye is a natural center of attraction for international investments," he said.
Chinese EV maker BYD inked with a Turkish government agreement to build a plant in Türkiye earlier this year in a deal of $1 billion, marking one of the largest investments in the recent period.
Noting that Türkiye is the world's 17th largest economy in terms of current dollar exchange rate and the 11th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) and has grown by an average of 5.5% in real terms in the last 20 years, Şimşek noted the following: "We have Customs Unions or comprehensive free trade agreements with 54 countries, including the European Union ... We are integrated with a wide geography of $30 trillion. We are both close and friendly with the countries of the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa."
"We positively differentiate ourselves from similar countries with our strong infrastructure, qualified human resources and the incentives we offer."
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing also noted that China and Türkiye, as emerging markets and members of the "Global South," have broad common interests and great potential for cooperation.
He also reported that trade cooperation between the duo is developing rapidly, with the trade volume exceeding $44 billion by 2023, doubling the 2015 figure.