Turkey sets out strategy for G20 meeting

Turkey will strive to helping to achieve inclusive and robust global growth through collective action at the upcoming G20 summit, said Turkish Ambassador to China Ali Murat Ersoy.

"This year Turkey focuses on ways to make the G20 more relevant to the rest of the world," Ersoy said. "We want to make sure that our decisions and actions would benefit non-G20 countries as well and provide the ground for a better global dialogue."

He said the Turkish presidency's proposal for G20 countries to prepare concrete and ambitious national investment strategies to support their national growth strategies has received broad support from G20 members.

Turkey was considered to be the perfect location for the G20 summit as it is both in Europe and Asia, and is in very close proximity to Africa, he said. 

Concerning Sino-Turkish cooperation, the ambassador said Turkey welcomes investment from China in fields such as infrastructure, energy, automobiles, engineering, banking and telecommunications.

Ersoy said that infrastructure projects such as the Marmaray tunnel, the Edirne-Kars high-speed railway and the under-construction Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, which will constitute a direct, high-speed and safe international rail connection from Beijing to London, will help restore the prosperity of the ancient Silk Road and can be integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative.

"In recent years, Turkish businessmen have become increasingly aware of China as a big market," Ersoy said. "We are proud to see that Turkish investors achieved success in China in products such as generators, household appliances and auto parts, textiles, and even realizing Turkish ownership and management in the shopping mall segment of the new economy."

Turkey's GDP stood at $800 billion in 2014, ranking seventh in Europe and 18th in the world. Meanwhile, China is Turkey's largest trade partner in the East Asia and its third-largest in the world. The bilateral trade volume stands at around $28 billion.

Turkey's main exports to China are raw materials, metals, ores, marble, leather and some agricultural products, and Turkey imports telecommunication devices, machinery and office equipment from China.

wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn