Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's Statement to the Press during the visit of the Prime Minister of Turkey

I wish to take this opportunity to once again extend a very hearty welcome to His Excellency Prime Minister Erdogan and members of his delegation to India.

We are delighted to have a visit by the Prime Minister of Turkey after eight years. Turkey is a major international power and its influence extends far beyond its region.

India and Turkey have close civilisational links. We share the common values of secularism, pluralism and tolerance. A strong and vibrant relationship with Turkey is in India's interest. This has been our guiding principle ever since the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Turkey in 1960.

Prime Minister Erdogan and I have decided to translate our strong mutual desire for good relations and the vast goodwill that exists among our peoples into concrete action.

Keeping in view the steady growth in our trade and economic cooperation, we have set a trade target of 6 billion US dollars by 2010. We have agreed to pro-actively encourage investment flows into each other's countries. Turkey's strategic location offers vast opportunities for Indian companies. Equally, our own development plans and infrastructure requirements provide huge opportunities for Turkish investment into India.

We have agreed to collaborate further in the area of energy cooperation, particularly hydrocarbons, science & technology, culture, tourism and people-to-people contacts. We both expressed our satisfaction on our ongoing contacts in the field of defence, and felt there was further scope for cooperation in this area.

I conveyed to the Prime Minister our appreciation for Turkey's support in joining the consensus in the Nuclear Suppliers Group for an India specific waiver to enable civil nuclear cooperation with India.

There was full agreement that terrorism poses a threat to our common values, and therefore needs to be tackled firmly and decisively through collective action. We have agreed to deepen our cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism.

We also discussed regional issues of mutual interest and, in particular, the situation in Afghanistan.

We have agreed to closely consult each other on important global issues. As members of the G-20, we exchanged views on the current international economic and financial crisis. The crisis has highlighted the urgent need for reform of international institutions. It is also an opportunity for India and Turkey to leverage their mutual complementarities to infuse dynamism into the global economy.

My discussions with Prime Minister Erdogan were extremely warm, productive and forward looking. They will contribute to the upgrading of our relations to a new level that befits the 21st century. This is in the interest not only of our two countries but also in the interest of international peace, stability and prosperity.

Thank you.