Asia

Asia

Türkiye aims to further ties with South Korea: Foreign minister

29 July 2023 18:55 (UTC +04:00)

Ankara wants to further enhance relations with South Korea as the two countries enjoy strategic partnerships, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday, APA reports citing Anadolu Agency.

"I would like to emphasize our will to further our relations on the basis of our strategic partnership," Fidan said at a news conference with his South Korean counterpart Park Jin in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The news conference came after the ministers held talks on bilateral relations and current regional and global developments, signing a road map agreement for a "dynamic Türkiye-Korea partnership."

"The roadmap we signed today is a sign of our common will in this direction. The road map, which has been worked on meticulously for about one-and-a-half years, draws its institutional framework of our relations," Fidan said, adding that under the document, the two countries will take steps in every area between them.

Political relations between Türkiye and the South Korea were established in 1949, and bilateral relations were upgraded to the level of strategic partnership in 2012.

Ankara sees Seoul as an important partner in its "Asia Anew" initiative, Fidan said, stressing that South Korea was Türkiye's second-largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region.

Based on its unique geographical position and deep-rooted historical and cultural ties with Asia, Türkiye announced "Asia Anew" in 2019, to introduce a new vision into its policies towards the continent from a comprehensive and holistic perspective.