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Turkey informed Beijing it wants to boost agricultural and food exports to China, Turkish source says

Turkey's foreign minister told Chinese authorities throughout a check out this week that Ankara wished to narrow its trade deficit with Beijing partly through more farming and food exports, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan got here in Beijing on Monday to hold talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and other authorities. He likewise checked out the far western region of Xinjiang, host to countless Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

China is Turkey's biggest trade partner in Asia and its fifth largest internationally.

Fidan said Ankara anticipated China to import more agriculture and food from Turkey, and communicated Ankara's want China to motivate more business to purchase Turkey and more Chinese tourists to visit, the source added.

Turkey's imports from China stood at $44.9 billion in 2023, while exports totalled $3.3 billion, according to official information.

Last month, Turkey's energy minister held talks with Chinese authorities and firms on mining tasks, nuclear, and eco-friendly energy, while signing a pact on energy conversion. Ankara is in talks with China on a third nuclear power plant it intends to build in the Thrace area.

While pressing increased financial ties with China, Fidan likewise reiterated Ankara's issues around the problem of the Uyghurs, the source stated, a position it has actually shown China previously.

Some 50,000 Uyghurs are approximated to live in Turkey, the largest Uyghur diaspora outside Central Asia. Turks have close ethnic, religious and linguistic ties to the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim individuals who speak a Turkic language.

Beijing has come under examination - including from Ankara - over its treatment of its Uyghur minority however denies mistreating them. Turkey's government has actually likewise been criticised domestically for what critics say are insufficient efforts to secure Uyghurs and their rights.

Fidan told Chinese officials that Uyghur Turks were extremely. crucial for us and advised Beijing of the Turkic and Muslim. worlds' sensitivities relating to the security of the cultural. rights and preservation of the worths of Uyghurs, the source. said.

He said that just steps by Beijing could totally get rid of. these issues, the source added.

Fidan likewise repeated Turkey's One China policy relating to. Taiwan, the source said.

(source: Reuters)