Turkey looks to strengthen ties with China's vibrant economy

BEIJING - Turkey would like to strengthen ties with China, a country it sees as sharing a positive economic outlook as well as many global concerns in the United Nations and G20, the Turkish ambassador said ahead of Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to his country on Monday.

"The visit will be a historic milestone in bilateral relations and consolidate ties which have made substantial progress in every field imaginable since 2009," said Turkish Ambassador to China Murat Salim Esenli.

According to the Turkish embassy in Beijing, trade between the two countries totaled almost $25 billion in 2011 and there are aims to increase it to $50 billion a year by 2015 and $100 billion by 2020.