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India and Turkey on Friday held a comprehensive review of bilateral relations and noted that commercial ties were on an upward trajectory with bilateral trade exceeding USD 10 billion in 2021-2022.
The Eleventh Session of India-Turkey Foreign Office Consultations (FOCs) was held in Ankara where both the countries agreed to hold the next round of the consultations in the former country on mutually convenient dates next year. Minister of External Affairs Secretary (West), Sanjay Verma, led the Indian delegation for the FOC. During the consultations, both the countries exchanged their views on bilateral, multilateral and global issues including Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. "Both sides have also appreciated the commercial ties, which were on an upward trajectory with bilateral trade exceeding USD 10 billion in 2021-2022," the MEA statement added. According to the release, "Indian companies are present in Turkey's automobile, pharma and IT sectors. While Turkey's companies were seeing opportunities in India's infrastructure and engineering sectors. Both sides agreed to further economic, cultural and people-to-people relations." They also agreed to commemorate 75 years of bilateral diplomatic relations in a befitting manner. The two sides had also reviewed the situation in their respective regions and also exchanged views on several multilateral issues. The last round of consultations was held on 8 May 2019 in New Delhi. During the visit, Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal had a meeting with Gitesh A Sarma, Secretary (West), in New Delhi on May 8, 2019, under the institutional mechanism of Foreign Office Consultations. The 4th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism was held in Ankara on July 4, 2019. A new bilateral mechanism "India-Turkey Policy Planning Dialogue" was institutionalized between the two Foreign Ministries with the first round held virtually on October 22, 2020. India and Turkey enjoy close, friendly and deep-rooted ties dating back several centuries and share civilizational links. The recent political exchanges have imparted fresh momentum to our bilateral ties and opened several new avenues for cooperation. (ANI)
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