PM Erdoğan to pay top significant visit to China with 300 businessmen

Erdoğan’s first stop in China will be to Xinjiang, the autonomous province with a high population of Uyghur Turks. Later, the prime minister heads to Beijing followed by Shanghai where he will be signing three agreements on funds, nuclear energy and coal.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan heads to China tomorrow in order to develop further momentum in bilateral relations. Sources from the Prime Ministry qualify the trip which will last until April 11th as a ‘China initiative’ intending to forge further relations spanning from the economy to politics. Erdoğan will be accompanied by 300 businessmen and an army of journalists on his historical trip to China in which he will visit three different cities and sign a number of joint agreements.

ERDOĞAN’S SCHEDULE

Erdoğan’s first stop will be to the autonomous Xinjiang Uygur region, an area which consists primarily of Uygur Turks and infamously surfaced in the press last year. The trip is especially significant for being the first time a Prime Minister from the Turkish Republic visits the area.

Erdoğan is expected to deliver Uygur Turks the message  “Rise with China. Integrate with China while holding on to your own culture.”

Erdoğan’s plane will first be landing in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region. Erdoğan will be meeting with the Xinjiang Governor as well as with businessmen to discuss the Turkish industrial zone planned for Urumqi. Later, the prime minister will be paying a visit to the Yang Hang Mosque.

Erdoğan’s second stop in China will be to the capital Beijing. There, Prime Minister Erdoğan will be greeted by People’s Republic of China Prime Minister Wen Jiabao with an official ceremony. After holding a one on one meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister and later with mutual committees, three critical agreements will be signed by Turkey and China.

The first agreement to be signed by Minister of Energy Taner Yıldız will be on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The second agreement will be signed with China’s equivalent of Turkey’s Electricity Generation Corporation. Once these two agreements are signed, China and Turkey will begin nuclear negotiations.

The next day, Erdoğan is scheduled to meet with the nation’s high level administrators. Prime Minister Erdoğan will first meet with People’s Republic of China President Hu Jintao prior to his meeting with the head of the Chinese parliament, known as the National People’s Congress, followed by a meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping.

Erdoğan’s third stop will be to China’s economy capital Shanghai. There, the prime minister will meet with CEO’s from China’s most prominent firms and is expected to call on them to invest in Turkey. Prime Minister Erdoğan will be relaying information on the strides taken in Turkey’s economic development and will deliver the message “There are serious investment opportunities and incentives for investing in our country. Turkey presents significant possibilities, come and invest and we will provide all forms of assistance.”

Erdoğan’s final stop will be to one of the nation’s leading educational institutes, the Shanghai International Studies University, where he will share Turkey’s foreign policy objectives. Erdoğan will also be conducting the opening for the university’s Turkish department.

Erdoğan, who is paying his first visit to China as prime minister, will be accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan and Minister of Energy Taner Yıldız.

07.04.2012
SOURCE: SABAH ENGLISH