Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday and pledged to expand bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg.
During the meeting, Wang said that both China and Turkey are part of the Global South and are accelerating their industrialization processes, and that there is significant potential for practical cooperation between the two countries. “China attaches great importance to relations with Turkey and places bilateral relations in an important position in Middle East diplomacy. China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Turkey, deepen the alignment of development strategies, expand areas of cooperation, and bring benefits to the two countries and other countries in the region,” Wang added.
Wang thanked Turkey for its assistance in the recent evacuation of Chinese citizens from Syria and emphasized that resolutely combating all forms of terrorism serves the common interest of both China and Turkey and is a consensus widely shared by the international community. Fidan, for his part, noted that in recent years, Turkey and China have maintained close contacts at all levels and fields, intergovernmental cooperation committees have been successfully convened, the Middle Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative have been harmoniously matched, and China has become Turkey’s second largest trading partner. “Turkey is ready to continue to expand trade and investment with China, seek cooperation in new areas such as renewable energy, information technology and artificial intelligence, and strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism, law enforcement and security at both bilateral and multilateral levels,” Fidan said.
