India-Turkey inks Three Agreements

India and Turkey have signed three agreements following delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first foreign visit after winning the April 16 referendum that will transform Turkey into a presidential form of democracy.
The previous visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to India was made in 2008.
In total three agreements were signed by both the sides in the fields of ICT, training and culture:

• An agreement for a cultural exchange programme for the years 2017-2020 was signed.
• A MoU was signed between the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) of India and the Diplomacy Academy of Turkey.
• A MoU was signed for cooperation in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also assured India of Turkey’s full support in the fight against terrorism and for India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
During his visit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was conferred the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by the Jamia Millia Islamia university for “his contribution to strengthen international cooperation, peace and diplomacy as well as for his extraordinary humanitarian aid to millions of refugees.”

India-Turkey

India and Turkey established diplomatic relations in 1948. Bilateral trade between both the countries stands at $6.5 billion. As of 2016, Turkey’s exports to India stood at $652 million, while its imports were $5.75 billion. Both the countries have set a target of increasing the volume of bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2020. Intelligence cooperation between Turkey and India over ISIS has increased in last few years, especially after it was found that many Indian nationals who attempted to travel to Syria travelled through Turkey.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2017