Ansari to embark on six-day tour to Turkey tomorrow
Bolstering of bilateral and trade relations will top the agenda of Vice-President Hamid Ansari during his six-day visit to Turkey beginning tomorrow.
The visit is likely to give a fillip to the move to set up a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Turkey. A Joint Study Group has been examining the feasibility of setting up a FTA between the two countries.
There will be a personal touch for Ansari also as his great granduncle M A Ansari had led a medical mission as a health assistance team to Turkey in 1911-1912 to provide aid to the Turkish army in the Balkan Wars.
The visit comes at a time when economic cooperation between India and Turkey have grown manifolds and both the countries are looking forward to enhanced cooperations in sectors like IT, infrastructure, automobiles and engineering.
The high-level delegation led by Ansari, accompanied by five MPs including CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury and a group of Indian businessmen, the first since 2003 when former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had visited Turkey.
Ansari's visit will commence from Ankara on Monday where he will be received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul. He will hold discussions on a range of issues with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Vice-President will hold delegation level talks with members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly led by its Speaker Camil Cicek.
Both India and Turkey are members of the G-20. Turkey is the 16th largest economy in the world and the only Eurasian country in NATO. Its association with Europe through the Customs Union with the EU could offer opportunities for Indian business.
The Indo-Turkish Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation is co-chaired by the Commerce Ministers of the two countries to give direction towards further consolidation and development of economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries.
Bilateral trade between the two countries touched USD 4 billion in 2010 of which India's exports were over USD 3.4 billion.
The recent years had seen a number of high-profile visits to India from the Turkish side. In November 2008, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited India, which was followed by President Abdullah Gul's visit here in February 2010. Ansari's visit is in continuation of these high-level exchanges between India and Turkey.
Both New Delhi and Ankara have also signed an Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and an Agreement for Reciprocal Protection and Mutual Promotion of Investments. Agreements for development of Science and Technology and for cooperation in IT sector also exist between the two countries.
A delegation of Indian businessmen, which is accompanying the Vice-President, will explore avenues for mutual cooperation in trade between the two countries. Ansari will also be participating in a Business Forum at the Turkish Chamber of Businessmen and Industrialists at Istanbul.
More than 112 Indian companies have registered their business in Turkey with investments in areas ranging from infrastructure and automobiles to IT and consultancy services.
Notable among them are GMR Infrastructure Limited, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance, Aditya Birla Group, Ispat, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, WIPRO and Dabur India Limited.
