There are many areas in which Turkey and Venezuela can increase collaboration, including trade, energy, mining, construction, health and tourism, the Turkish President said Wednesday.

Addressing a joint press conference after talks with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in the capital Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "Our trade volume with Venezuela was about $150 million in 2019. We doubled it by 2020 and took it up to $850 million (TL 14.5 billion) in 2021." He added that Turkey's aim is to boost the figure to $3 billion in the near future.

Ankara will keep making efforts to enhance bilateral relations with Caracas, the president asserted.

He said that Turkey has "always supported Venezuela and will continue to do so in the future."

Both sides, he said, have the will to take bilateral relations to "the next level."

As part of continuing efforts to improve bilateral ties, Erdoğan said a Turkish government delegation will be heading to Venezuela next month.

Maduro, meanwhile, lauded Turkey's growing global influence, saying the country plays a "very important" geopolitical role in the world.

The two leaders also oversaw the signing of three tourism, agriculture and economic agreements before the joint press conference.