Prime Minister Chung Hong-won (right), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (third from right) and a Turkish veteran of the Korean War attend the opening ceremony for the Istanbul-Gyeongju World Culture Expo in Istanbul on Saturday. ( Yonhap News)
ISTANBUL (Yonhap News) ― Prime Minister Chung Hong-won called for Turkey’s support for South Korean companies trying to win more infrastructure deals in the West Asian country, a Seoul official accompanying him said Saturday.
Chung was in Turkey on the last of his eight-day trip that also took him to Bahrain, Qatar and Sri Lanka. On Saturday, he met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Istanbul.
In July, a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. won a $697 million order to build a suspension bridge in Turkey.
During the meeting with Erdogan, Chung also called for Turkey’s cooperation to quickly conclude a free trade deal covering the service and investment sectors. In May, the two countries put into effect an FTA covering nearly all products.
Turkey is South Korea’s 25th-largest trading partner with two-way shipments totaling $5.2 billion in 2012.
Also Saturday, Chung and Erdogan signed a deal on boosting cooperation in culture and sports, according to the South Korean official.
