Turkiye wants to further develop relations with Uruguay: Foreign minister

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye wants to further develop bilateral relations with Uruguay, the Turkish foreign minister said on Saturday.

“I am extremely pleased with the distance we have covered in our relations and the momentum we have achieved in the last year,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a joint news conference with his Uruguayan counterpart Francisco Bustillo in Montevideo.

Cavusoglu’s visit to Uruguay constitutes the first official visit at the level of foreign minister. He will also inaugurate Turkiye’s embassy in Montevideo.

“We just signed two important agreements. We believe that we can increase our bilateral trade volume even more.

“Even without this agreement, our bilateral trade volume increased by 30% despite the pandemic,” Cavusoglu said.

After signing the free trade agreement, the bilateral trade volume and economic cooperation will reach much higher levels, he added.

Cavusoglu went on to say that they want to further develop relations in many fields, especially in agriculture, health, education, defense industry, and tourism.

He also said that Turkiye is looking forward to the opening of Uruguay’s embassy in Ankara.

For his part, Bustillo said they are pleased to welcome his Turkish counterpart in Montevideo.

“We have just signed the agreement for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments,” he said, adding that they discussed developing a “fantastic relationship” and increasing trade volume.