Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a historic visit to India from 21 November 2008. It was the first visit by a Turkish prime minister in two decades.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan began his state visit with a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan, India’s Presidential Palace. The visiting PM laid a wreath at Rajghat, the mausoleum of Mahatma Gandhi before attending the ceremonial welcome.

At the ceremonial welcome, the visiting head of government observed that both Turkey and India shared historical ties and deepening of political, economic, military, commercial and cultural relations was need of the hour.

Bilateral Ties

Welcoming the guest, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said, “India and Turkey share civilisational links and common values of secularism, pluralism and tolerance. A strong and vibrant relationship with Turkey is in India’s national interest. This has been India’s guiding principle ever since the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Turkey in 1960".

Prime Minister Erdogan expressed his desire for good relations and the need to convert the vast goodwill that exists among the peoples of both countries into concrete action.

India conveyed to the Turkish Prime Minister its appreciation of support from Turkey in facilitating the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s (NSG) India specific waiver to enable civil nuclear cooperation with India.

India offered to collaborate with Turkey in areas of energy cooperation, particularly hydrocarbons, science & technology, culture, tourism and people-to-people contacts. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the ongoing contacts in the field of defence and agreed to enlarge the scope for greater cooperation in this area.

Pipeline

Both India and Turkey discussed the plan to pipe oil and gas from Turkey to Israel and then ship it to India. The Turkish Prime Minister told the media in Bangalore that “the proposal would allow India easier access to energy supplies from Central Asia and the Caspian region”.

According to Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, Turkey had already conducted a feasibility study for the project and officials are to meet shortly in Turkey.

The new proposal comes after the much discussed pipeline that would have linked India to Iran through Pakistan failed to take off. The plan suffered major set back as there were disagreements over costs, fears about the pipeline’s security besides strong opposition from the US. The proposed pipeline would now run from the Caspian region to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. From there it would run to Israel’s Eilat port on the Red Sea. Shipping the crude and gas from Eilat would allow Indian tankers to avoid the Suez Canal.

During his address to the captains of Indian industry, Erdogan referred to the Ceyhan-Red Sea Oil Pipeline project and said it would be implemented with India’s participation.

FTA Plan

Both countries have set a target of bilateral trade at US$6 billion by 2010. The current trade figure is about US$2.6 billion. India has set a trade target of US$6 billion by year 2010 and both sides agreed to establish a Joint Study Group (JSG) to examine the feasibility of concluding a bilateral FTA. Turkey’s strategic location offers vast opportunities for Indian companies. India’s own development plans and infrastructure requirements would provide huge opportunities for Turkish investment into India.

“We have agreed that we need to establish a Joint Study Group in order to sign an FTA that is going to be used as a real product of instrument to raise the volume of trade between the two countries,” Erdogan said.

Talks Business

In his address to the business luncheon hosted by leading Indian business chambers, Erdogan called for more Indian investment in his country. Despite the financial crisis casting its shadow in Turkey, the PM wanted little protectionism. But he stressed the need for tight regulation with more emphasis on regional cooperation.

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, after the delegation-level talks, stated, “The global financial crisis has highlighted the urgent need for reform of international institutions. It is also an opportunity for India and Turkey to leverage their mutual complementarities to infuse dynamism into the global economy”.

Indian and Turkish leaders last met at the G20 summit of developed and developing countries on the financial crisis in Washington. Both sides had exchanged views on the current international economic and financial crisis.