Turkey signs currency swap deal with China

Politics - 22 February 2012, Wednesday 17:43

ANKARA (QHA) - China and Turkey have signed a three-year currency swap deal worth $1.6 billion to enable bilateral trade in local currencies, sunherald.com writes.
President Abdullah Gul of Turkey and Vice President Xi Jinping of China oversaw the signing of the agreement, which can be extended, between the People’s Bank of China and Turkey’s Central Bank. The leaders did not make any statement during the ceremony, but Turkish leaders were widely expected to relay their growing concerns over the violence in neighboring Syria.
The Chinese vice president’s visit to Turkey purposed to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues, but he was not required to attend any news conference where questions about Syria would no doubt have been asked.
The Government of Turkey said the world cannot remain silent in the face of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on dissent. But China, along with Russia, has vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad’s crackdown on protests that killed 5,400 in 2011 alone, according to the U.N.
Trade between Turkey and China soared over the past decade to $24 billion a year, though Chinese exports account for most of it. Turkish officials want to address this imbalance by securing more Chinese investment and tourism, as well as joint ventures in Turkey or other locations, such as Africa.
"Both countries are quickly rising stars. One of them is a global power. The other is a regional power," said Murat Bilhan, a former Turkish ambassador and chairman of the foreign policy platform at Istanbul Kultur University, according to Associated Press.
"This, of course, gives them some kind of look toward each other and they need to cooperate," he said.

 
QHA