Turkey aims to strengthen its relations with Asian countries and considers Sri Lanka "an extremely valuable and important ally," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Friday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Sri Lankan counterpart Gamini Lakshman Peiris in the capital Colombo, the Turkish top diplomat underlined the importance of the Asia Anew initiative that aims to establish stronger ties with Asian countries.
Çavuşoğlu said Turkey is more aware of the fact that Asia is an economic powerhouse. Turkey considers Sri Lanka as the "pearl of the Indian Ocean" and an "extremely valuable and important ally," he added.
He noted that the double taxation avoidance agreement signed by the countries on Friday will take their economic relations even further.
The bilateral trade volume has reached the pre-pandemic levels and shows the potential to hit higher targets, he said.
The two countries agreed that trade should be diversified and identified areas where they can work together. They also decided to help each other improve in the fields of health, pharmaceuticals, construction and tourism. Turkey expressed its willingness to share its experiences regarding "safe tourism."
Strengthening cultural relations between the countries is an important agenda item, Çavuşoğlu said.
Turkish Airlines (THY) aims to increase the number of flights to Sri Lanka from 11 to 14 per week as of September, he said. These flights from Istanbul and Colombo make an important contribution to the relationship between the countries.
Underlining that Turkey is determined to continue cooperation with Sri Lanka, the foreign minister said they will continue to combine efforts to combat terrorism.
He said Turkey is grateful for Sri Lanka's support in the fight against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.
Noting that Turkey attaches importance to cooperation with Sri Lanka in the field of defense, he said that the Sri Lankan president visited the Turkish defense industry fair. "There is a very important potential there," Çavuşoğlu added.
"We can further expand and improve these relations by working together," he stressed.
Announced by Çavuşoğlu at the 11th Ambassadors Conference in August 2019, the Asia Anew Initiative indicated that Turkey was determined to more effectively utilize the potential of cooperation in Asia, considered the fastest growing economic region and the continent with the largest economy in terms of its gross domestic product (GDP).