Japanese PM, Turkish FM agree to deepen cooperation

TOKYO, June 22 (KUNA) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met Wednesday, with Abe praising the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shown in the recent amendment of the Turkish Constitution.
In response, Cavusoglu said that Turkey attaches importance to the friendship between Turkey and Japan, according to a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry.
"I would like to deepen the bilateral relations in all fields, mentioning projects of cooperation such as Turkish and Japanese Science and Technology University and Sinop Nuclear Power Plant," Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Abe. The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East, the ministry said.
Cavusoglu is on a three-day visit to Tokyo from Tuesday. He held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the previous day, in which the two confirmed the importance on further advancing interaction between authorities, parliaments and intellectuals. During the meeting, Kishida and Cavusoglu also agreed that the two countries will promote negotiations on the Japan-Turkey Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Social Security Agreement.
Kishida also expressed Japan's readiness for further cooperation for the establishment of Turkish and Japanese Science and Technology University and cooperation on cultural aspects such as archaeology field.
For his part, Cavusoglu stressed the importance of high-level visits to each country and Turkey's expectation on Japanese companies' participation to large infrastructure projects, and on recovery of the number of tourists from Japan. (end) mk.hb