Türkiye and India are two richly diverse democracies with the potential to carry their bilateral ties further, India’s Ambassador to Türkiye Virander Paul said, highlighting the historical connections between the two countries.

"Ours is not a new relationship. It is rooted in centuries-old historical links. The people-to-people goodwill and cultural affinity that we see today is a reflection of the civilizational connection between our two countries," Paul told Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview.

Maintaining that Ankara and Delhi are two richly diverse democracies, enjoying considerable standing in the current international environment, Paul added, "Uniquely positioned in the Indo-Pacific, India is a large rapidly-growing economy with diversified strategic outreach."

"In a world with shifting global geopolitical and economic realities, collaborative ties with India is an opportunity. There are possibilities for developing even more comprehensive bilateral ties through deeper mutual understanding aimed at mutual benefit," the ambassador underlined, indicating that great potential lies especially in the field of economic cooperation.

He reiterated that annual bilateral trade has crossed $10 billion while there is shared eagerness to double it to $ 20 billion in the future.

"We need to unlock this potential jointly," Paul continued. "A promising future of our economic ties has consistently been on the agenda of my interactions with Türkiye’s senior government representatives and business leaders. Business communities are particularly upbeat."

Paul elaborated that there are also new possibilities arising out of India's thrust on innovation and startups as well as the country’s participation in more robust and resilient technology-driven global supply chains in the post-COVID-19 times.

"The profiles of our two economies have also offered opportunities for gainful investments in some specific areas such as infrastructure, construction technologies, IT, textiles, electrical goods manufacturing, automotive, high-tech engineering and pharmaceuticals."

The ambassador added that there may be good scope for cooperation also in the entertainment and creative industries.

"Both sides need to appreciate and take advantage of each other's strengths and capabilities, both existing and new. We would continue to support business-to-business interactions in this direction," Paul said.

New cooperation areas

Saying that today India is widely recognized as a reliable exporter of a large variety of defense equipment, including products based on indigenously developed sophisticated technologies, Paul highlighted that Türkiye similarly is a country with a growing defense industry.

"As relations between our two countries progress on the mutually agreed basis in the times ahead, new areas of cooperation may get added to our bilateral agenda," Paul said, indicating possible future cooperation in the field of the defense industry.

"It goes without saying that the range and depth of cooperation between any two countries are determined by a mutual appreciation of each other's capabilities as well as their key interests and concerns. In a bilateral partnership, cooperation in defense equipment is a natural reflection of mutual trust and confidence," he added.

Türkiye was among the first nations to recognize India's independence in 1947, opening a diplomatic mission the following year. India was among the first countries to have reacted to the military coup attempt in Türkiye in 2016 by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and had called for democracy as well as the mandate of the ballot while urging to avoid bloodshed.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi most recently met briefly on the sidelines of the 17th G-20 Summit held on Indonesia's Bali island last month.

‘Oneness for global progress’

On the other side, India took over the rotating G-20 presidency for 2023, with the theme "One Earth - One Family - One Future." "This theme reveals India's larger outcome-based approach of steering the wide-ranging agenda of G-20 to collectively address the challenges faced by the contemporary world, promoting a universal sense of oneness for global progress," Paul explained.

Underlining that the G-20 is a body representing 85% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), 75% of international trade and two-thirds of the world's population, he said that the world is undergoing a challenging time.

"The world continues to deal with the enormous consequences of the pandemic, which has also greatly undermined action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are currently also concerns of the pandemic taking a new turn for the worse," Paul said, indicating that at the same time the prevailing geopolitical tensions have acutely aggravated the challenges of availability and affordability of energy, food and fertilizers.

"For decades the world has already been struggling to address the issues of terrorism, climate change, sustainable development and the need for reforms of multilateral institutions. The world is today looking at the G-20 with hope."

India will work for global consensus on all these issues toward a larger paradigm of human-centric globalization and also reflect the aspirations and concerns of the Global South in the overall priorities of the G-20 process, Paul emphasized.

"Our G-20 Presidency will also be an opportunity to share the India narrative of development, serving the needs of over 1.4 billion Indians, with policy pathways based on sustainability and inclusive and equitable growth."