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| Turkey to boost trade with Sri Lanka |
“We want to expand our trade cooperation with Sri Lanka"
As Sri Lanka-Turkey bilateral trade volume crossed $ 200 million levels for the first time, the 16th largest economy in the world and the fastest growing country in Europe too wants to expand its bilateral trade with Sri Lanka.
Alpman, who was leading a team of Turkish officials to Sri Lanka, was making a courtesy call on Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce on the same day at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Colombo when he expressed these remarks.
“We want to expand our trade cooperation with Sri Lanka. Various business chambers of Turkey are keen on establishing links with the Sri Lankan private sector to expand bilateral trade,” revealed Serpil Alpman, Turkey’s visiting Ambassador ranked diplomat, on 26 November.“We have become an important actor in global trade and we want to expand our trade cooperation with Sri Lanka as part of our expansion. We are now trying to make the needed reforms to join the EU and are targeting $ 500 billion exports across the world by 2023,” Alpman said.“We also believe that direct air-links between Turkey and Sri Lanka can assist in strengthening current bilateral trade volumes in a considerable way. I am pleased to say that official discussions to establish direct air-links between Turkey and Sri Lanka are currently ongoing at higher levels.”
Turkey and Sri Lanka signed an agreement on air transportation in December 2008. Turkey was the fastest growing economy in Europe in 2011 with 8.5% GDP growth and the 16th largest economy in the world with a GDP of $ 770 billion (2011).