A Chinese delegation signed a 10-million-dollar trade agreement Thursday to buy a range of Turkish products as Chinese President Jiang Zemin met local business leaders in Istanbul. The visiting president headed Friday for Greece.
One Turkish business leader who attended the meeting said it could be just the first of a string of deals.
Jiang and a 100-strong Chinese delegation held trade talks with a group of 15 Turkish businessmen, bankers and industrialists aboard a boat on the Bosphorus.
"It's clear that the Chinese want to deepen their economic relations with Turkey," Kerkut Yuceagoglu, president of the Association of Turkish Businessmen (TUSIAD), told AFP.
According to Turkey Daily News on Friday, China sees Turkey as one of the most promising markets of the developing world, and thus wants to bolster commercial ties in every possible field, from energy to transportation. While China wants to enlarge its share of bilateral trade, Turkey, which is already at a big disadvantage, wants to quickly increase its exports to China from $30-40 million to $300-400 million. Both presidents have reportedly agreed on increasing Turkey's share.
The trade protocol signed between the two countries is to buy wool, metals and dried fruit and will be opened to bids from Turkish companies.
"It's just a beginning, because the Chinese president also showed an interest in tourism, textile, transport and energy projects," said Yuceagoglu.
"The proof of Jiang's enthusiasm is that he said he was even ready to invest in Turkey," he added.
China has shown an interest in a 170-million-dollar hydroelectric station.
But Yavuz Onay, president of Turkish-Chinese Business Affairs, warned: "There are legal problems to sort out on the Chinese side for a foreign investment by them."
China has also got involved in power station projects, and a scheme to build a railway to revive the "Silk Road", the ancient Sino-Turkish trade route.
Earlier Thursday, Jiang visited an electrical components factory run by the Turkish company Beko.
Beko and Arcelik, both subsidiaries of Koc holdings, want to get involved in the Chinese privatization program and use China as a production base for electrical goods destined for the Turkish and European markets.
A Turkish business delegation is due to visit China in the autumn to develop economic ties between the two countries – (Several Sources)
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