SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan, Sep 16(ABC): Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye on Friday morning at Forumlar Majmuasi Complex in Samarkand.
Xi pointed out that in recent years, China-Türkiye relations have maintained a momentum of growth, with steady progress in practical cooperation and effective collaboration against the pandemic.
Facts have shown that sound relations between China and Türkiye serve the long-term interests of both countries, and have important significance for deepening the solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, Xi said.
Currently, the international community is faced with multiple opportunities as well as challenges, Xi noted.
He pointed out that China and Türkiye, both being major developing countries and emerging markets, share many common interests in defending their respective rights and interests, pursuing development and rejuvenation, and safeguarding international justice.
China is ready to work with Türkiye to elevate the strategic cooperative relations to a higher level, Xi said.
Xi underscored that the two sides need to enhance political mutual trust, earnestly respect each other’s core interests, and consolidate the political foundation of China-Türkiye strategic cooperative relations.
It is important to focus on development cooperation, make good use of the various bilateral cooperation mechanisms and respective strengths, work for more fruits in the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and contribute to the security of the global industrial and supply chains as well as food and energy security, Xi said.
The two sides need to advocate true multilateralism, uphold international fairness and justice, and strengthen cooperation in multilateral organizations including the United Nations, the G20, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Xi added.
Erdogan noted the important progress in Türkiye-China relations in various areas and expressed the readiness to work with China to leverage bilateral mechanisms such as the inter-governmental cooperation committee to promote even more fruitful trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.
Given the strong complementarity between Türkiye’s “Middle Corridor” plan and the Belt and Road Initiative, it is hoped that intensified efforts can be made to build synergy between the development strategies of the two countries to boost common development and rejuvenation, he said.
He also reiterated Türkiye’s firm commitment to the one-China principle.
Ding Xuexiang, Yang Jiechi, Wang Yi, He Lifeng and other officials attended the meeting.