Turkish premier looks to boost ties with Singapore

Turkey hopes to develop its ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) further when Singapore takes the chair of the regional body, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Monday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Singaporean counterpart in capital Singapore, Yıldırım said his country appreciates the decision made earlier this month to include Turkey in ASEAN’s sectoral dialogue partnership group.

"Singapore played an important role [in Turkey's membership in ASEAN sectoral dialogue partnership group]. Next year, Singapore will chair ASEAN during which we want to develop our relations with ASEAN even more," he said.

He added that a strategic partnership was established between Singapore and Turkey in 2014, and bilateral relations took a new dimension when a free-trade agreement was signed during Premier Lee Hsien Loong's visit to Turkey in the same year.

"Singapore is a source of inspiration with its vision, creative economic model, development level, life standards and its progress," Yıldırım said.

He said bilateral trade was continuously increasing since the last 10 years and would accelerate with the free-trade agreement.

He called for exploring possibilities of cooperation in aviation, tourism, cyber security, information and communications sector.

"Of course, I would like to express that we are ready to share any kind of our experience in the fight with global terrorism as a country which has paid a very high price on terror in our region," he added.

Yıldırım also met President Tony Tan Keng Yam earlier on Monday.