Turkey looking forward to PM Narenda Modi's visit in November

By PTI

Updated: Tuesday, June 16, 2015, 13:13 [IST]

Kolkata, June 16: Eyeing more "senior-level interaction" with India, Turkey is looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Turkey for the G20 Summit scheduled in November.

"Well, we are looking at more opportunities for more interaction at the senior-level and Turkey is looking forward to the visit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Turkey for the G 20 summit," Ambassador of Turkey to India Burak Akcapar told reporters on the sidelines of the release of his book "People's Mission to the Ottoman Empire: MA Ansari and the Indian Medical Mission, 1912-1913", here late last evening.

On the areas Turkey would like to invest in India, the Turkish Ambassador said, "We are looking at investments in the civil aviation sector, economic sector, tourism sector".

He further stressed that Turkey is also looking into the possible opportunities in the context of the 'Make in India' programme of the Central Government. "We are expecting ministers of both countries to sign a document to take ahead the centuries-old relationship of the two friendly countries," Akcapar added.

Asked whether the two countries should have built a very strong bond by now, the Ambassador said, "Yeah, I think we have lost decades during the Cold War. But the cold war is no more on and the leaderships on both sides have seen the merits of building a strong relationship between the two countries and I think steps are being taken.

"Look at what happened in the first quarter of this year. Madam (Sushma) Swaraj went to Turkey, her counterpart (Mevlut Cavusoglu) came here, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister (Ali Babacan) came here, our finance minister came here, Gen. V. K. Singh went there, Railway Minister (Suresh Prabhu) went to Turkey.

So there are lot of interaction in just three- four months which says that both the countries are serious towards building a relationship," Akcapar said.

The last Indian Prime Minister who visited Turkey was Atal Bihari Vajpayee 13 years back, he said.

PTI