India, Turkey discuss ways to boost cooperation in key areas

of security New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) India and Turkey today discussedways to strengthen cooperation in key areas of security, daysafter Turkish government had requested closure of allinstitutions connected with Fethullah Gulen, blamed for lastmonth’s failed coup to topple President Tayyip Erdogan. During their wide-ranging talks, External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu,who is here on his first official visit, reviewed entire gamutof bilateral relations and exchanged views on important globaland regional issues of mutual interest. "There were discussions also on the terrorist attacks inTurkey and the internal developments in Turkey, including therecent coup attempt. In this context, the Turkish side briefedabout the role of Fethullah Gulen-led organisation (FETO) inthe attempted coup," an official source said. Earlier this month, Turkey had asked India to act againstthe institutions affiliated to the network of Fethullah Gulen,to which India had said that it was "looking into" therequest. On the multilateral front, there were discussions on theneed for reform in UN Security Council, sources said, addingIndia’s application for the membership of NSG also featuredduring the meeting. "Turkey confirmed support for this as it had earlier forIndia’s membership of MTCR," the source added. The two countries also finalised a "roadmap" forcooperation between the two countries in a wide variety offields including regular exchanges between the two countriesat the political and official level to discuss bilateralmatters as well as important global and regional issues ofmutual concern. On the economic front, priority was given on convening thenext session of Joint Economic Commission (JEC), which hasbeen a very useful bilateral mechanism to discuss ways forincreasing the bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Theannual bilateral trade last year was USD 6.3 billion. Cooperation for building closer economic ties throughJoint Committee Meetings, Joint Working Groups, closercooperation between business and industry associations andparticipation in trade fair and road shows is envisaged,sources said. Other areas of bilateral interests were cooperation inthe fields of culture, education, energy, tourism etc. The two ministers exchanged views on the regionaldevelopments, particularly in West Asia, where the securitysituation has become alarming from the perspective of both thecountries, sources added. PTI PYKZMN