Turkey and Brazil aim to increase their bilateral trade volume to $10 billion and are ready to make trade much more balanced through commodity diversification, Turkey’s foreign minister said.

“We mutually want to increase our trade volume and also our tourism activities,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference on Monday after meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Carlos Franca in the capital Brasilia.

During the meeting, the two sides focused on cooperation in defense, military, culture and education, Cavusoglu said.

The two sides also signed important agreements that will strengthen cultural and political relations, he said, adding that Turkey and Brazil have ties that date back more than 160 years.

Before the start of the pandemic, the number of tourists visiting Turkey from Brazil was around 100,000, while that number dropped as countries had lockdowns under Covid-19 measures, Cavusoglu noted. .

“Now our goal is to reach that number again and even go beyond that to reach 150,000. We want to welcome guests and tourists from Brazil. And we also want our Turkish citizens to visit Brazil,” did he declare.

Turkish Airlines’ Sao Paulo flights are an important motivation for this, the Turkish foreign minister said, adding that Türkiye was also planning a direct flight to Rio de Janeiro.

On the occasion of Cavusoglu’s visit, the 4th meeting of the Turkey-Brazil Partnership Commission was also held.

“Brazil is our biggest trading partner in Latin America and it is a fact that we have reached the figure of nearly $5 billion in trade volume,” Cavusoglu said.

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Cavusoglu also celebrated the second centenary of Brazil’s independence and said he was ready to welcome his counterpart Franca to Türkiye.

Franca, for his part, said they agreed to expand bilateral cooperation.

“We are trying to institutionalize the infrastructure of our relationship with Turkey. We want to strengthen this institutional infrastructure in the defense industry, as well as in many different areas,” he said.

Franca praised Türkiye’s intensive multilateral and bilateral contacts in the international arena, including the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, which he called “extremely important”.

It was the first time a delegation representing the Brazilian government attended the forum last month, Franca said.

On March 10, Türkiye made world headlines for hosting Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, the highest-level meeting of the two sides since the start of the war on February 24.

Franca stressed that Brazil supports Turkey’s efforts to relaunch the negotiations of the free trade agreement with the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR). He also thanked Turkey for its support for Brazil’s application to the OECD.

Recalling the agreement between Turkey and Brazil in the field of defense industry signed last year, Franca said: “With this agreement, we will be able to carry out many different studies and transfer technologies. This will also increase the combat power of the Brazilian army”. and strengthen our infrastructure in this regard.”

Cavusoglu attended the opening ceremony of the Turkish Consulate General in Sao Paulo on Sunday. Later on Monday, he met Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as part of his official visit to the Latin American country.

Source: AA