Turkey and India need to work together to establish balanced and sustainable trade ties, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said yesterday.

Turkey and India's bilateral trade reached $8 billion in the first 11 months of 2018, up from $7 billion in all of 2017, she noted on a visit to the Indian capital New Delhi.

"India's exports to Turkey exceeded Turkey's exports to India," she told the Turkey-India Business Forum, organized by Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK).

Last year, Turkey's exports to India amounted to $758.6 million, while Indian exports to Turkey totaled $6.2 billion, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

This year, around 10-15 percent of bilateral trade was Turkish exports, while India accounted for the rest, said TurkStat.

During her visit to India, Pekcan met India's Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

She underlined that such bilateral meetings would strengthen and expand the two countries' trade and economic ties.

Touching on using national currencies in trade - bypassing U.S. dollar and euro - she highlighted that India uses national currencies with some countries, and it could do the same with Turkey.

She added that representatives of the two countries will meet to update bilateral investment agreements. "With the convenience provided by visas and the number of direct flights rising, bilateral trade and tourism ties will increase," she said.

Turkey provides unique opportunities for investors worldwide with its developed and qualified workforce, stable and regular environment, investment incentive system, investor-friendly policies and strategic geographic position, Pekcan said.

"Indian companies should see Turkey as a production base to enter the European market," she added.