China, Turkey usher in golden era of economic, trade cooperation

China and Turkey have in recent years enjoyed booming development in bilateral trade and economic relations, with comprehensive promotion of cooperation in such fields as trade, investment and project contracting.

The two countries have actually ushered in a best era in history for bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

MAJOR TRADING PARTNER WITH INCREASING IMPORTANCE

In 2004, China was only Turkey's sixth largest source of import and its 19th largest export destination, while in 2013 China became its second largest source of import and 11th largest export destination.

According to statistics released by China's Ministry of Commerce, the two-way trade volume between China and Turkey in the first 11 months of 2014 totaled 20.9 billion U.S. dollars, registering a year-on-year increase of 3.57 percent.

Of the total trade volume, China's exports to Turkey grew by 8.56 percent to 17.5 billion dollars while Turkey's exports to China went down by 16.06 percent to 3.4 billion dollars, making China the biggest contributor to Turkey's foreign trade deficit in the 11-month period.

In November 2014, up to 3,692 Turkish buyers attended the 116th China Export Commodities Fair or the Canton Fair in south China's Guangzhou City, up by 13 percent.

ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT DESTINATION

With rapid growth of the economic aggregate, a huge domestic market, and abundant human resources, Turkey -- which has since ancient time enjoyed a favorable geological location stretching to Asia, Europe and the Middle East -- has played an increasingly important role in the roadmap for Chinese enterprises to realize their "going global" strategies.

As a country that relies heavily on foreign investment, Turkey particularly welcomes investment from China.

A group of Chinese enterprises such as Hainan Airlines, China's major locomotive maker CSR Corp. Ltd. and agribusiness New Hope Group have already invested in Turkey in fields including transportation, energy, telecommunication, mining and tourism.

In the second quarter of 2014, China became Turkey's largest source of foreign capital inflow, according to the Turkish government.

In terms of overseas project contracting, figures released by China's Ministry of Commerce showed that the total contract value and sales volume of Chinese enterprises in Turkey respectively reached 1.67 billion dollars, up by 172.6 percent, and 1.54 billion dollars, up by 9.9 percent, in the first 11 months of 2014 compared with the same period of the previous year.

It is noteworthy that high-speed trains manufactured by China are already running in Turkey. On July 25, 2014, the major sections of Turkey's Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway of 158 kilometers, a 1.27-billion-dollar project jointly built by a Chinese-Turkish consortium, was put into operation.

The operation of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway is a proof of China's strength, said Suleyman Karaman, General Director of Turkish State Railway, in an interview with Xinhua.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping's initiative on building the Silk Road Economic Zone and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road has won positive response from Turkey -- a major country located on the ancient Silk Road.

Since the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries in 2010, China and Turkey have maintained close communication on cooperation in the fields of trade and economy.

Except for the Ankara-Istanbul railway, Turkey has planned another high-speed project linking its eastern and western borders, and maintained in-depth contact with Chinese enterprises on intent of cooperation therein.

Given the robust development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Turkey intends to make Istanbul an international financial hub and an overseas transaction center for the Chinese yuan.

Moreover, an increasing number of Chinese tourists annually travel to Turkey -- an epitome of frequent cultural exchange between the two sides.

Both as emerging economies, Turkey and China will respectively host the 2014 and 2015 G20 summits -- an important platform for the two sides to build their international influence under the global governance mechanism.

The host of G2O summits in succession by Turkey and China will definitely create more opportunities for high-level exchanges between the two countries.