PM’s Press Statement during the State visit of President of Turkey to India

Your Excellency President Erdogan Distinguished delegates, Members of the media, It is a pleasure for me to extend a warm welcome to President Erdogan and his delegation to India. Excellency, I will always cherish the memory of my visit to Turkey for the G-20 Summit in November 2015. Your visit gives us an opportunity to reciprocate the warmth and good-will that I enjoyed during my visit to your beautiful country. Friends, The people of India and Turkey have nurtured deep and historical links. Ties of culture and language connect our societies for hundreds of years. While Rumi found his home in Turkey, his legacy continues to enrich the Sufi traditions of India as well. Friends, In our comprehnsive discussions today, President Erdogan and I took stock of full range of our relations, particularly our political, economic and cultural engagement. We also shared perspectives on developments in our region. Friends, India and Turkey are two large economies. President and I are clear that the strength of our economies presents an enormous opportunity to expand and deepen commercial linkages between our countries. I also feel that at the level of the two governments, we need to approach the entire landscape of business opportunities in a strategic and long-term manner. Our bilateral trade turnover of around 6 billion dollars does not do full justice to convergences in our economies. Clearly, the business and industry on both sides can do much more. I am happy that a high level business delegation is accompanying President Erdogan Both of us addressed them, and the captains of the Indian industry this morning. I am sure that Turkish businesses would be quick to tap the diverse and unique opportunities inherent in rapidly growing India. I also believe that India’s infrastructure requirements, and I listed some of them this morning at the business Summit, and our vision of developing Smart Cities match well with the Turkish capacities. We would like to encourage stronger partnership of Turkish companies with our flagship programmes and projects, either on their own or in collaboration with the Indian companies. I have no doubt that the Agreements signed today and the substance of our conversation will further strengthen institutional cooperation between our two countries. Friends, We live in times where our societies face new threats and challenges every day. The context and contours of some of the existing and emerging security challenges globally is our common concern. In particular, the constantly evolving threat from terrorism is our shared worry. I held an extensive conversation with the President on this subject. We agreed that no intent or goal no reason or rationale can validate terrorism. The nations of the world, therefore, need to work as one to disrupt the terrorist networks and their financing and put a stop to cross border movement of terrorists. They also need to stand and act against those that conceive and create, support and sustain, shelter and spread these instruments and ideologies of violence. President and I agreed to work together to strengthen our cooperation, both bi-laterally and multi-laterally, to effectively counter this menace. Friends, We also discussed the need for comprehnsive UN reforms including the Security Council expansion to make the body more representative accountable and effective. Both of us recognize the need for the UN Security Council to reflect the world of the twenty first century and not of the century gone by. Excellency, Let me welcome you once again in India. I thank you for very productive discussions. Our decisions today will certainly drive the India-Turkey partnership to a higher level. I wish you a fruitful stay in India. Thank You. Thank you very much.