18 April 2017•Update: 18 April 2017
By Enes Duran
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit China in mid-May, Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes said Tuesday.
Turkes met Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong in his office at the Cankaya Palace in Ankara.
Speaking to the media, he said Liu's visit is the highest-level visit from China to Turkey in 2017.
"Our president accepted honorable Xi's [Chinese President Xi Jinping] invitation and will visit Beijing to attend The Belt and Road Summit between May 14 and May 15," Turkes said.
He added that perspectives of Turkey and China on the revival of the historic Silk Road overlap.
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the “One Belt One Road” project to boost interconnectivity and trade relations among southeast Asian, central Asian and European countries through modern maritime and land infrastructure links.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu also congratulated Turkey over Sunday's referendum.
"Two days ago, the presidential system was accepted in Turkey. We witnessed the celebrations of tens of thousands of Turks along the roads with Turkish flags, while we were going from the airport to the city center.
“We congratulate Turkey on behalf of the People's Republic of China," Liu said.
In Turkey, millions of voters went to the polls Sunday to decide changes to the country’s constitution that would usher in an executive presidency.
Unofficial results show 51 percent voting in favor of the changes while less than 49 percent opposed the new laws.
