President Moon Jae-in (right) and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım hold summit talks at Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Dec. 6.

President Moon Jae-in (right) and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım hold summit talks at Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Dec. 6.

By Yoon Sojung
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae Facebook

President Moon Jae-in met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and discussed bilateral cooperation between Seoul and Ankara, at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Dec. 6.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım is making an official visit to Korea to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

President Moon and Prime Minister Yıldırım agreed to work hard to expand bilateral cooperation, which used to be focused solely on national defense and the defense industries, so that it could cover a broader world of trade and investment.

President Moon hoped that more Korean firms would be able to work on infrastructure projects in Turkey, such as the ongoing construction of the Canakkale Suspension Bridge, the longest in the world, currently underway in cooperation with both Korean and Turkish firms. .

President Moon Jae-in (right) and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım pose for a photo prior to their summit meeting, at Cheong Wa Dae on Dec. 6.

President Moon Jae-in (right) and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım pose for a photo prior to their summit meeting, at Cheong Wa Dae on Dec. 6.

Prime Minister Yıldırım hoped that the strategic partnership between the two countries could develop further. The Turkish prime minister said that Turkey has been modeling Korea so that it, too, could achieve economic advancement and successfully carry out the process of constitutional reform in order to secure political stability. He also emphasized the cooperation potential between the two countries, while mentioning the current investment volume between the two countries amounting to some USD 7 billion.

In regard to North Korea’s nuclear missile provocations, Prime Minister Yıldırım expressed the Turkish government’s support for Seoul’s Korean Peninsula policies and its efforts to resolve North Korean nuclear weapons issues.

President Moon invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Korea in the near future. Prime Minister Yıldırım responded by saying that, “President Erdogan will visit Korea in 2018 to bolster the strategic relationship between our countries.”

arete@korea.kr