By IANS,
New Delhi : India and Turkey share many things in common, including a parliamentary democracy and secular values, and a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would be a valued development, Turkish Ambassador to India Levent Bilman has said.
Speaking to select journalists at the Turkish embassy here, Bilman said “India and Turkey are coming closer together.”
India is studying the features of a proposed FTA and a fresh round of meeting between the two sides on the issue is to be held in Turkey, he said, adding that indications are very promising of the two sides inking the agreement.
The two countries also share a healthy trade relation that is expected to touch $5 billion by 2011, Bilman said quoting India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma as saying recently. The current bilateral trade stands at $3 billion.
The envoy also said that India’s Road and Highways Minister Kamal Nath is to visit Turkey later this year to attend a road show in order to explore ways to push forward construction of highways in India. “India is keen to build 20 km of highways in a day, and the current rate of construction is much less. The roadshow in Turkey will help India in that direction,” he said.
India is also participating actively in a trade expo to be held in Turkey this year, he informed.
While trade between the two is looking up, the same cannot be said for tourism, Bilman said. Of the 11 million Indians who went touring abroad, a mere 55,000 visited Turkey.
“This has to change. Turkey is a beautiful place, one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the world and there is so much to see. We want Indian tourists to visit Turkey in a major way,” the ambassador said.
Culture and Tourism Counsellor N.S. Boz said Turkey’s strategic location, in between Europe and Asia, and with 1,000 km of seacoast made it the perfect getaway spot for tourists. “We want more Indian tourists to visit Turkey, our food, sight-seeing spots, night life, will be appreciated by Indian tourists,” she promised.