Biz PageNews

Turkey wants closer ties with Sri Lanka

The Turkish foreign minister on Saturday said Turkey wants to develop holistic relations with Asia that has become the center of global economic power.

Inaugurating a new office of Sri Lanka’s Antalya Honorary Consulate General in the town of Alanya, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara desires to promote cooperation with Sri Lanka in fields such as economy, culture, and education.

Emphasizing that honorary consulates play an important role in diplomatic interactions, he recalled that the first Turkish diplomatic contact with Sri Lanka was established in 1864 when the Ottoman Empire opened an honorary consulate.

Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Sri Lanka following its independence in 1948, he added.

Cavusoglu said bilateral ties have grown stronger since a tsunami rocked Sri Lanka in 2004 and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to the country at the time.

Commenting on financial relations, Cavusoglu said the two countries set a trade target of half a billion dollars, but the figure stood at about $102 million in the first half of 2021.

He suggested, however, that maintaining economic relationships based on a few specialized products would be unsustainable, and that trade ties should be more diverse.

The Turkish diplomat said health and tourism sectors should also be explored and incorporated into relations.

In a Twitter post, Cavusoglu said: “[Turkey] Will further develop our cooperation with friendly Sri Lanka in the framework of our Asia Anew Initiative.”

“Your generous gesture toward Sri Lanka reflects our two countries’ historical brotherly relations. I must say Turkey is a true friend,” said Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Turkey Mohamed Rizvi Hassen.

“By opening the consulate we are looking forward to increasing trade, investment, tourism and cultural relations, and more importantly people-to-people contact with this region.”

He added: “The region of Antalya has many opportunities, which can bind the business community in Sri Lanka. Our initiative to open this office provides an opening to explore untapped opportunities available in Antalya for the betterment of the people of Turkey and Sri Lanka.”

Post Disclaimer | Support Us

Support Us

The sailanmuslim.com web site  entirely supported by individual donors and well wishers. If you regularly visit this site and wish to show your appreciation, or if you wish to see further development of sailanmuslim.com, please donate us

IMPORTANT : All content hosted on sailanmuslim.com is solely for non-commercial purposes and with the permission of original copyright holders. Any other use of the hosted content, such as for financial gain, requires express approval from the copyright owners.

Sailan Muslim

Our purpose is to secure and promote the legitimate interests of the Sri Lankan Muslims, considering as legitimate only those Muslim interests that are consistent with the national interest. It is apolitical and non profit making effort. The other reason is that Muslim politicians have been marginalized to a serious extent over many decades, and cannot therefore fully represent Muslim interests. An effective Muslim website can be useful in bringing about this change. Our aim is to unite our community to speak with one voice and to promote an understanding and interactive dialogue with other communities. We are dedicated to make this website a success with the objective of promoting truth, justice and harmony among all citizens of Sri Lanka with unbiased, accurate, truthful and balanced information. More @ About Us Disclaimer The entire content of this website (sailanmuslim.com) is for information purposes only. Individual comments, news, Articles and stories are based upon the opinions of the respective authors, who retain copyright as marked. The information on this website is intended as a sharing of knowledge and Information only. Sailan Muslim Foundation.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button