Turkish Prime Minister invites President Aquino to visit Turkey

President Benigno S. Aquino III receives His Excellency Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, at the Music Room of the Malacañan Palace during his Official Visit to the Republic of the Philippines on Monday (November 17). Diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Philippines have been established with the Treaty of Friendship signed on 13 June 1949. Friendly and problem-free relations between Turkey and the Philippines constitute a solid basis for the development of bilateral relations. Economic relations have gained momentum in recent years despite the geographical distance. In recent years, enhanced economic and commercial relations paved the way for the Philippine business circles to increase their interest in the Turkish economy. Currently, approximately 5,000 Philippine citizens are living in Turkey and there are approximately 200 Turkish citizens living in the Philippines. (Photo by Benhur Arcayan / Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has invited President Benigno S. Aquino III to visit Turkey to further strengthen the diplomatic relations of the two countries.

In his press statement following his bilateral meeting with President Aquino in Malacañang Palace on Monday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in the 65th anniversary of the two nations’ diplomatic relations, it is time to make an upgrade from good relations to strategic cooperation.

“We decided to have more high-level visits and, therefore, I want to invite — and I invited in front of the press — I want to reiterate our invitation to Mr. President, as the invitation of President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan as well of our nation,” he said.

Following their bilateral meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of an Air Service Agreement to boost tourism and spur greater economic activity between the two countries.

Prime Minister Davutoğlu said that with the signing of the agreement, his government will try to upgrade his country’s air transport to avoid difficulties posed by the geographical distance between Turkey and the Philippines.

Turkey also wants to accelerate trade with the Philippines, he said.

“Trade volume today is US$ 300 million, around US$ 350 million. We need to reach to US$ 1 billion as early as possible,” he said. “Therefore, we decided to complete all the agreements and to have this joint economic commission.”