Premier Zhu Rongji Meets Turkish Guests

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji met Friday with visiting Turkish State Minister Tunca Toskay and his party. They exchanged views on bilateral relations and other issues ofcommon interest during the meeting.

Zhu spoke highly of economic relations and trade between China and Turkey, saying that the people of the two countries have enjoyed a long-term friendship, and bilateral cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields has expanded since the twocountries forged diplomatic ties in 1971.

China is ready to work with Turkey to promote existing friendlyties, he said.

Zhu described cooperation between China and Turkey in trade andeconomic fields as fruitful, saying that such cooperation peaked in 2000.

He expressed his support and appreciation for the talks betweenthe Turkish delegates and officials from relevant Chinese departments Thursday. He said it is his hope that the Turkish state minister's visit will further economic and trade cooperationbetween the two countries.

Tunca said that Turkey attaches importance to its relations with China, and developing bilateral relations benefits both countries and is conducive to regional peace and prosperity.

He said that there is great potential for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, and Turkey would like to domore in this field.

Tunca said that Turkey is looking forward to the upcoming visitby Premier Zhu, which, Turkey believes, would further bilateral economic ties and trade.

Tunca and his party are on a China visit at the invitation of the Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation ShiGuangsheng. While in Beijing, both Shi and Tunca jointly presidedover the 14th session of the Chinese-Turkish Joint Economic & Trade Committee.

( April 6, 2002)