Turkey said on Thursday that it plan to open a bank in China while it giving a license to Bank of China to open an office in Turkey.

Turkish State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan announced the decision at the opening of the First Turkish-Chinese Business Forum in Istanbul.

Babacan said Turkey and China had agreed to open banks in each other's territories in a bid to launching financial cooperation between the two countries.

"The representative of Bank of China has taken office in Turkey, and we are pleased to learn that the office will be operating soon, " Babacan said.

The deputy prime minister said that China Development Bank and Turkey's Treasury had a fruitful cooperation, and showed finance of high-speed train project as an example of this good cooperation.

He said that Turkish Treasury and the China Development Bank were about to complete talks on a framework agreement, and thus the two countries could facilitate investments in Turkey.

"Our aim is to boost our comprehensive cooperation in every area with a long-term, strong and multi-dimensional strategic partnership perspective," he said.

Babacan also said 2012 would be "The Year of China" in Turkey and 2013 would be celebrated as "The Year of Turkey" in China, which he thought would be an opportunity for the business world.

Turkish-Chinese Industrialists and Businessmen's Association is organizing the forum in cooperation with the Chinese embassy in Ankara. Some 500 business people and government officials are attending the two-day meeting.

Chinese ambassador Gong Xiaosheng said at the forum that the launching of financial cooperation will boost economic and trade relations between the two countries.

He said that China attaches importance to its relations with Turkey. The bilateral trade volume has hit a record of over 15.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.