Turkey pays special attention to ties with ASEAN, says FM

Turkey gives special importance to its relations with the ASEAN member states, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“We pay special attention to our relations with ASEAN within the framework of Asia Anew,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told ambassadors of the ASEAN member states in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Noting that Turkey launched the Asia Anew Initiative in 2019, Cavusoglu said the country aimed to improve ties with Asian countries in different areas.

“ASEAN Summits and Foreign Ministers Meetings are among the most important international political gatherings bringing together more than 30 countries in different formats, especially the EU, US, China, Russia, Japan,” he said.

Underlining that eight of the ASEAN member states have embassies in Turkey, he said that embassies tremendously contribute to mutual relations and trade volume.

The trade volume with the countries where Turkey has recently opened embassies grew by 27%, the foreign minister added.

Cavusoglu said he will be evaluating all the recent developments with the ambassadors, adding they will also be discussing ways to improve bilateral relations as well as relations among all ASEAN member states.

Regarding Sectoral Dialogue Partnership, he said it allows deepening cooperation with ASEAN in many areas, including the fight against extremism and terrorism, public-private partnership, renewable energy resources, sustainable development, education, culture, tourism, trade and investment, and e-commerce.

Turkey’s relations with ASEAN is very fruitful for the whole world, the minister said, adding that they are working on further cooperative projects.

He said the Gems and Jewelry Associations Conference organized by ASEAN was held for the first time in Istanbul in 2019.

Cavusoglu said that Turkish businessmen have a great interest in the ASEAN countries.

Stressing that ASEAN countries are not only active in the economy but also in defense, security and mediation, he said Turkey supports the association’s efforts for peace in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

He thanked all the ambassadors who participated in the meeting closed to the press.