Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju met Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Beijing on Tuesday, vowing to push the bilateral friendly cooperative ties to a new high.

Huang, also member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that China and Turkey are both known for their ancient civilizations and the two peoples share deep and traditional friendship.

In recent years, bilateral cooperation has been making progress in all fields, Huang said, noting to further cooperation was the two people's common aspiration and in their basic interest.

Abdullah Gul agreed with Huang's remarks, saying that Turkey will further cooperation with China. Gul is here for an official visit to China from Feb. 1 to Feb. 5 as guest of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

China established diplomatic relations with Turkey in 1971.

Sino-Turkish trade increased by 33.1 percent year on year to hit US$3.1 billion in the first 11 months of 2004.

China mainly exports machinery products, textile and chemical products to Turkey and imports metallic products and ores from Turkey.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2005)