Turkish-Chinese Think Tanks Summit Held in Beijing The summit was held with the participation of Turkish and Chinese experts at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY) on Wednesday, December 16th.
BEIJING – Issues of bilateral relations and sustainable development were discussed within the framework of China’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy. At the end of the meeting, the two sides decided to hold yearly meeting series within the initiative. Furthermore, after the meeting a memorandum of understanding was signed by 2015’s Think20 Coordinator TEPAV and 2016’s Think20 Coordinator RDCY in order to form a prospective working agenda and coordination mechanisms.
Opening remarks of the meeting was given by Ou Xiaoli, Director of Department of Western Region Development under National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) and Güven Sak, Executive Director of TEPAV. Xiaoli emphasized that although “One Belt, One Road” strategy is a Chinese initiative; in essence it has a vision to make global development more inclusive. Xiaoli stated that China places great importance to its bilateral relations with countries on historical Silk Road and went on to say that they are aware of the significance of the Middle Corridor that passes through Middle Asia – Caspian Sea – Southern Caucasus for the connection between Turkey and China. Speaking after Xiaoli, Güven Sak said that the momentum reached between China and Turkey during Turkey’s G20 presidency should continue under China’s term as well. Sak pointed out that memorandum of understanding for the “Harmonization of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with the Middle Corridor Initiative” that was signed at Antalya G20 summit by committees under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a very positive development and went on to say that following up with technical, concrete and applicable projects is the duty of the think tanks of the two sides.
Other participants of the summit from Turkey included representatives of USAK, SETA, TASAM, Koç University and Central Bank of Republic of Turkey. From the Chinese side other participants included experts from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Peking University, National Development and Reform Commission of China, Development Research Center of the State Council of the PRC (DRC), and China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).
