On Istanbul visit, Colombian president praises Turkish founding leader

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Colombia's president attended a conference at a Turkish university in Istanbul on Friday to praise Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkiye.

"I want to talk about his legacy and how his legacy has transcended borders, and how his legacy has made an important influence in the decision-making process that we have made in Colombia," said Ivan Duque in his speech at Bahcesehir University.

During the speech, titled "The Legacy of Ataturk's Thought," Duque expressed his "deep admiration for Mustafa Kamal Ataturk," and said that, on a personal level, he took lessons from the late Turkish leader that were "inspirational to me in my political career, in my parliamentary career, and now also as president of Colombia."

- Raising Columbia-Turkish trade to $2 billion in 4 years

The Colombian president also underlined that the two countries have a "great trade relationship, a great trade balance," currently in favor of Colombia, "but we (can) make this a win-win."

"Through the creation of opportunities, we're going to reduce poverty," he said, adding that they wanted trade and investment between the two nations to surpass $2 billion in the next four years.

"If we have that vision, we will make our relationship stronger than ever and we will allow cross-border investors to generate the opportunities that we want between Turkey and Latin America using Colombia as maybe the ground for this," he added.

Pointing to the strategic alliance between Ankara and Bogota that he said they were "very thankful" for, Duque said his country could be the "ground for" cross-border investors to generate opportunities between Turkiye and Latin America.

Duque arrived in Istanbul on Friday and will remain there until Sunday at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks later on Friday and discuss Turkish-Colombian relations and steps to be taken to enhance cooperation between the two countries.