ISTANBUL, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque Marquez on Friday signed a joint declaration on strategic cooperation and partnership.
"We have raised the relations between our countries to the strategic partnership level with this joint declaration," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Duque after the signing ceremony in Istanbul.
Colombia is Turkey's second largest trading partner in Latin America after Brazil, with over 2 billion U.S. dollars of trade volume in 2021, he said, adding the two countries aim to achieve 5 billion dollars of trade in the future by tapping mutual investment opportunities.
"We are also working to improve our cooperation in many fields such as the defense industry, health, tourism, agriculture, and migration," Erdogan noted.
Duque, on his part, emphasized the importance of cooperation with Turkey in battling against illegal immigration and coping with big immigration waves, which both countries have long been suffering from.
Colombia hosts the largest number of immigrants in Latin America and the Caribbean region, said the Colombian leader. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to nearly 4 million Syrian refugees.
During their meeting, the two leaders also exchanged views on current regional and international issues, including the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, according to Turkey's presidential office.
