Turkish and Chinese officials vowed to further improve ties, especially in trade and tourism, during a meeting in Ankara yesterday.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmet Aydın welcomed the Chinese delegation led by Hu Changsheng, an alternate member of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
Aydın said Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman was planning to visit China while Turkey was hoping to host Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We are planning to gradually increase economic and commercial relations," he said.
"China is our largest trading partner in the Far East and number two in the world."
"We have a trade volume of $28 billion as of last year, and we plan to bring it closer to $50 billion. We enjoy close relations with China on mega construction projects," Aydın said.
Aydın said China will celebrate 2018 as the Year of Tourism in Turkey and encouraged Chinese tourists to visit Turkey.
Hu said the number of Chinese tourists visiting Turkey is expected to rise in 2018. "This year the number of Chinese tourists coming to Turkey will reach 400,000."
He added that the presidents of Turkey and China have met four times in the last two years, promoting stronger bilateral relations in the process.
AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehdi Eker said on Wednesday that the visit will enable the Chinese delegation to better understand Turkey. Eker recalled the October congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which constituted the new central committee, which organizes a dialogue conference with selected political parties across the world. Some 200 political parties from 120 countries were invited to this dialogue conference and Eker delivered a speech on behalf of the AK Party.
