Premier Li Keqiang met with Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Binali Yildirim in Beijing on Dec 4.

Premier Li said China and Turkey, both as emerging market economies, are important partners for each other.

Noting the successful meeting held recently between President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Premier Li said China hopes the two countries will continue to respect each other’s core interests and major concerns on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment.

He added China is willing to work with Turkey to enhance exchanges and cooperation at all levels in various fields, such as parliamentary exchanges, consolidating public support for bilateral ties, and pushing ahead with continuous and healthy development of their relations.

Premier Li said with the huge potential in pragmatic cooperation, China is ready to better integrate its Belt and Road Initiative with Turkey’s development strategies, to further tap complementary advantages. He also expressed his hope that the two countries could achieve mutual benefit and win-win results by promoting balanced development of bilateral trade, as well as making progress in cooperation in key fields.

Located at both ends of the Asian Continent, Turkey and China are important strategic cooperative partners, Yildirim said. Lauding the achievements China has made during its reform and opening-up process, the Turkish side is ready to improve bilateral ties by better integrating development strategies and deepening cooperation in fields such as infrastructure construction, trade and investment, Yildirim added.