Shanghai Mayor meets with Turkish Ambassador

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng held a meeting with Turkish Ambassador to China, Ismail Hakki Musa, and his delegation yesterday.

Gong stated that currently, Shanghai is accelerating the construction of a socialist modern international metropolis with global influence, in accordance with President Xi Jinping's strategic positioning for Shanghai's development.

Although Shanghai and Turkey are separated by mountains and oceans, the friendly relationship between the two goes back a long way. Over the past 30 years, since Shanghai became sister city with Istanbul, there has been extensive and fruitful exchange and cooperation.

Looking to the future, we hope to further deepen cooperation between the two cities by taking high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity. We warmly welcome Turkish companies to participate in the import expo and invest in Shanghai, and we also encourage Shanghai companies to invest in Turkey, the mayor said.

Turkey has a long history, and Shanghai is a melting pot of cultures, both Chinese and Western. We hope to promote cultural exchange and tourism development, and deepen sister city exchange and cooperation in areas such as urban renewal, urban management, and port construction, to make greater contributions to China-Turkey friendly exchanges, Gong added.

Musa said that Turkey values China, and Shanghai plays an important role in Turkey's relationship with China. Shanghai is China's economic center, and inclusiveness is an important part of Shanghai's urban spirit. We encourage Turkish companies to root themselves in Shanghai and contribute to its economic and social development, and Turkey welcomes Chinese companies to invest and will actively provide convenience. We hope to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two cities and welcome Chinese tourists to Turkey.

Consul General of Turkey in Shanghai, Huseyin Emre Engin, also attended the meeting.