ANKARA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Maintaining development momentum in the Turkey-China ties is crucial to the welfare of the two peoples as well as global stability, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday before his visit to Beijing.
Erdogan, who will pay an official visit to China on Tuesday, said in a written exclusive interview with Xinhua that he wants to enhance the bilateral strategic cooperative relationship established in 2010.
"In recent years we have achieved significant momentum in our relations with China as regards bilateral and multilateral cooperation," Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader highly praised frequent high-level exchanges and contact between Turkey and China in recent years as "the most important indicator of the development of our relations."
Erdogan also emphasized the importance of bilateral relations within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
"We are on the same page regarding President Xi's approach to the initiative, which is not only to improve transport and communication networks, to construct trade corridors and to harmonize trade policies and development strategies, but also to boost cultural and human ties in this framework," said Erdogan.
"We are acting in line with the conscience that the Sino-Turkish economic and trade partnership, besides its regional benefits, has potential to contribute to world peace, prosperity and stability," said Erdogan.
The Turkish president also hailed "shared common opinions" with China on many global issues on such international platforms as the World Trade Organization, the Group of 20, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Erdogan said in the climate of rising uncertainties in global markets, China and Turkey should increase their dialogue to expand their cooperation.
"We have a concrete bilateral agenda on how we can improve our partnership," Erdogan said.
"I believe that we will witness together how our relations would be upgraded in all fields when we boost our consultations with our Chinese friends," the Turkish president added
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