Xi traveled to İstanbul later on Tuesday for talks with Erdoğan, who is at home recovering from surgery. Citing prime ministerial officials, the Turkish state-run Anatolia news agency reported that the two officials met for one hour and agreed to increase economic cooperation.
During the meeting, which was closed to the media, Erdoğan also accepted a formal invitation from Xi to visit China and said he would travel there in the coming months, Anatolia reported.
On Wednesday, Xi is expected to attend a business forum in İstanbul, where he is likely to be assailed by exporters eager to try to bridge a gaping trade gap. China is Turkey's 15th biggest export market with nearly $2.5 billion in Turkish goods sold there last year, an increase of 8.7 percent. But some $21.6 billion worth of Chinese goods were imported to Turkey in 2011, up 26 percent from 2010.
Turkey, now the world's 16th biggest economy and only second to China in growth last year, has projected itself as a stable Muslim democracy, making it a key player at a time of turmoil and unrest in the Middle East. Turkey and China are at either end of a political and economic axis stretching along the old Silk Road though Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan. Both have strong, sometimes competing economic interests in the region.
