Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) India is poised to scale up its economic and strategic ties with Turkey, a vibrant economy located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, when Vice President Hamid Ansari goes on a five-day visit to Ankara starting Monday.

He will be accompanied by Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik, four members of parliament, including Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, and senior officials of the external affairs ministry.

Ansari will call on Turkish President Hamid Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The vice-president will hold delegation-level talks with members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly led by Camil Cicek, speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

“Discussions will cover the entire gamut of bilateral, regional and international issues,” M. Ganapathy, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, told reporters here Saturday.

Ansari, also a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, will pay homage to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the iconic founder of the Republic of Turkey, at his mausoleum in Ankara. Besides the capital Ankara, he will will also visit the historical provinces of Konya and Nevsesir (Cappadocia).

At Konya, he will be conferred an Honorary Doctorate for International Relations by the Mevlana University.

For Ansari, the visit will have an added personal resonance as his great grand uncle, M.A. Ansari, had led a medical mission to Turkey in 1912 to provide aid to the Turkish army in the Balkan War.

The focus will be on expanding economic ties when he goes to Istanbul to participate in a business forum at the Turkish Chamber of Businessmen and Industrialists.

India and Turkey are expected to explore the prospects of setting up a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A Joint Study Group has been examining the feasibility of setting up an FTA. Ansari’s visit is expected to give an impetus to the process.

Trade ties between India and Turkey, also members of the G20 forum of developed and emerging economies, are blossoming. Bilateral trade touched $4 billion in 2010, of which India’s exports were over $3.4 billion and imports from Turkey accounts for $606 million.

More than 112 Indian companies have set up their business in Turkey with investments in areas ranging from infrastructure and automobiles to IT and consultancy services. They include some of leading Indian brands and companies, including GMR Infrastructure Limited, which won the bid for the construction of the airport in Istanbul.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance, the Aditya Birla Group, Ispat, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, WIPRO and Dabur India Limited are among Indian companies with sizable business operations in Turkey.

Among the leading Turkish companies which have a presence in India in the infrastructure and oil and petrochemical sectors are LIMAK Construction and Fernas Construction Company.