Argentina's Ambassador Jorge A. Mastropietro on Thursday expressed his respect for the diplomatic relations between his country and Turkey.

"I did not need an adaptation period when I arrived in Turkey," he said. "From the very first moment, and setting aside the language, I felt at home."

Vowing to strengthen cooperation, Mastropietro praised the relations between the two countries that are over a century old.

"Ties between the two countries date back to the early 20th century and have come a long way," Mastropietro said. Ministerial level political and economic consultations took place for decades alongside state visits by top officials.

"The trade volume between the two nations has risen from $500 million to $600 million with a favorable balance for Argentina," he said.

"We are currently negotiating sanitary certificates for livestock, beef, lamb and some other products to expand trade to these sectors," he further underlined.

Mastropietro said that with the exception of Turkish Airlines, there has been no investment made by Turkish companies in Argentina, and there are no Argentine companies operating in Turkey.

In this regard, the two countries signed an agreement at the G20 summ

it in Buenos Aires last December that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended to avoid double taxation.

"According to data released by the Ministry of Tourism, 46,729 Argentine tourists have visited Turkey since Turkish Airlines launched services in Argentina in December 2012," he said. "An aspect to be highlighted is the existing cooperation in aerospace matters that led the Argentine company INVAP and Turkish Aerospace Industries to establish a joint venture - GSATCOM Space Technologies - for the production of small communication satellites."

In recent years, Turkey, as part of its multipolar foreign policy, turned its eye to Latin America. As a result, the $1.5 billion trade volume with the continent recorded in 2003 surged to $11.8 billion in 2018. Apart from increasing figures in bilateral trade, there have been remarkable increases in the number of tourists coming to Turkey from Latin America thanks to the popularity of Turkish TV series in the region. The number of high-spending tourists coming from South America, especially from Argentina and Brazil, soared by 70 percent to 165,000 in the first eight months of 2018. Turkey's "Action Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean" was put into effect in 1998. The plan was reviewed in 2006 and the same year was declared the "Year of Latin America and the Caribbean" in Turkey. The plan is considered a road map regarding the policy of opening up to the region.