Top Turkish diplomat's S.American tour to boost ties

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - Turkey's ambassador to Argentina Monday hailed the political and economic importance of Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's four-nation South American tour this week.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Meral Barlas said Argentina has the third-biggest economy in South America and stressed the importance of numerous areas where Turkey can have an economic relationship with Latin America.

"Geographically Latin America is quite far from Turkey, but it has a great potential. Turkey's foreign policy outreach to the region is extremely important for economic and political reasons," Barlas said.

On Cavusoglu's regional tour of Argentina, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico starting today and ending Friday, Barlas said it is important for Turkey to enhance relations with Argentina, as the country is a G20 member.

"The last visit came in 1998 at the foreign ministerial level. This new visit signifies the importance of developing future relations," the envoy said.

The visit of Turkey’s top diplomat to Argentina is the first in nearly 20 years, and the visit to Paraguay will be the first-ever at the foreign ministerial level.

In Argentina the two countries’ foreign ministers are due to sign a pact on cooperation and mutual assistance on customs matters, and in Paraguay pacts on friendship and cooperation and air services are set to be signed.

The visit to the Dominican Republic will be an opportunity to review the progress in bilateral relations and discuss potential areas of cooperation within regional organizations.

During Cavusoglu’s visit to Mexico, one of Turkey’s strategic partners in the region, the Binational High-Level Commission, established in 2013, will hold its first political committee meeting.

Barlas also said the 2015 trade volume between Turkey and Argentina stood at about $350 million, a figure she said “fell short of its true potential."

"Our export and imports with Argentina are low. We hope the visit will form a strong foundation to upgrade these numbers," she said.

Barlas also said Argentinians feel good about Turks and that "the TV series imported from Turkey played a large role in that."

"The people here show great sympathy when I tell them I’m Turkish. The TV series helped them know us better," Barlas said.