Touting Turkey's growing ties with Latin America while on a regional tour, the country's top diplomat on Wednesday underlined the importance Turkey places on such relations, including with Colombia.
Speaking at a press conference alongside his Colombian counterpart Marta Lucia Ramirez in the capital Bogota, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said: "The fact that we did not cancel this visit, which was planned prior to the Ukraine war, despite the many problems in our region, is a mark of the importance we place on this region."
Mentioning Ramirez's visit to the Turkish capital Ankara earlier this month, Çavuşoğlu said: "My visit here less than a month later shows the momentum we have achieved in our relations."
Turkey is pleased to welcome Colombian President Ivan Duque in May, Çavuşoğlu said, adding that he will discuss preparations for the visit with his counterpart.
"We will discuss the steps we will take to further our bilateral relations in various areas," he added.
Çavuşoğlu was due to be received by Duque later in the day.
Noting that over the last 20 years, Turkey has boosted the number of its embassies in Latin American countries from six to 18, Çavuşoğlu said Ankara will open an embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador very soon.
Turkey's trade with the region has ballooned from approximately $1 billion to $15 billion, he said, noting that the country's trade volume with Colombia stood at $2 billion last year.
The two countries aim to increase the trade volume to $5 billion, he said.
Ramirez, for her part, said Turkey carries great importance for Colombia, adding that it is "in a very important position in terms of history and geography."
Praising Turkey's mediation efforts in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, she highlighted the "many initiatives" Turkey has taken to end the conflict.
On Tuesday, during the foreign minister's trip to Ecuador, where he met with his Ecuadorian counterpart Juan Carlos Holguin in the capital Quito, Turkey and Ecuador signed agreements in various fields to boost bilateral ties. Economic cooperation was the top priority in the agreements.
In an article published on Tuesday in the online journal Nota Diplomatica Ecuador, the Turkish diplomat said his visit to Quito is of special importance as it marks the very first official visit by a Turkish foreign minister.
“It is so refreshing and promising to be in such a friendly country with which we share a wide positive agenda and a mutual commitment to further advance our relations in every possible field," he said.
Encouraging greater "political dialogue, more economic cooperation and closer cultural relations" between the two countries, Çavuşoğlu mentioned the areas in which Turkey wants to further strengthen ties with Ecuador.
"I am hoping that my visit to Ecuador today will open new avenues of cooperation in trade and investments, cultural cooperation, education, energy and agriculture – just to name a few of these areas with great potential."
He also talked about the importance of "addressing the challenges facing humanity as well as problems related to global governance," citing migration issues, climate change, the fight against pandemics, terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking as examples.
He also assured that Turkey will "wholeheartedly" support Ecuador's upcoming membership in the United Nations Security Council.
"Given that many items on the Council's agenda are related to issues in Turkey's wider region, our close relations will help both our countries to bring an added value to the work of the Council," he wrote.
Diplomatic relations between Ecuador and Turkey date back to 1950 and gained particular momentum when Ecuador opened its embassy in Ankara in 2009 and Turkey in Quito in 2012.
On his tour of the region, Çavuşoğlu has already visited Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia, and will continue on to Panama and Venezuela before returning to Turkey this weekend.
