Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş said on Monday that he expects 200,000 Chinese tourists to visit the country by the end of this year.

Kurtulmuş met Chinese Minister of Culture Luo Shugang in China's capital Beijing, on the sidelines of a session of the U.N. World Tourism Organization. "Turkey and China need to strengthen cooperation, and this is impossible without cultural exchange and tourism," Kurtulmuş said.

China has declared 2018 as the "Turkey Tourism Year."

Kurtulmuş added that he hoped that the One Belt, One Road project - which aims to connect Asia and Europe through 65 countries - will improve Sino-Turkish relations in all aspects. Luo praised the porcelain artifacts exhibited in the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.