Vietnam looks forward to Turkish premier's visit

By Ecenur Colak

ANKARA

Vietnamese Ambassador to Turkey Pham Anh Tuan said Monday the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to Vietnam would mark a significant milestone.

"The upcoming official visit of the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim to Vietnam at the end of August will mark a significant milestone in the relation between the two countries as this will be the first official visit by a Turkish Prime Minister to Vietnam," Pham Anh Tuan told Anadolu Agency.

The ambassador said the visit would also open the door to more opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.

"The exchange of high-level visits will provide important impetus driving bilateral relations between Turkey and Vietnam to grow more robustly in political, economical, cultural and many other sectors," he said.

The ambassador said economic and trade relations between the two countries "have been developing rapidly".

He emphasized that since the beginning of 2017 both countries benefitted from the "resilient growth of the Turkish economy and the stable growth of the Vietnamese economy".

"Turkey now has become one of the largest trading partners of Vietnam in the Middle East region."

Pham said both countries agreed to increase bilateral trade to $4 billion by 2020 during the seventh meeting of the Vietnam-Turkey Joint Economic and Trade Committee in July 2017 in Hanoi.

He said the two countries will benefit from the cooperation between Turkey and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Turkey became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in August 2017.

ASEAN -- a regional bloc of 10 countries comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- was founded on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand.

"This remarkable step will certainly deepen the relations between Turkey and all ASEAN members in politics, trade, tourism and other sectors," he said.

"Turkey is the gateway for Asian countries, including Vietnam to Europe, and Vietnam can play an important role as a hub for Turkey to reach further to other Southeast Asian countries."

In 2018, Turkey and Vietnam will celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties.

"Obviously, the friendly and multi-faceted relations of cooperation between Turkey and Vietnam will serve as a solid foundation for us to continue working together for the mutual benefits and prosperity of our people," he said.

Reporting by Ecenur Colak; Writing by Meryem Goktas