by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The economic reform of China is a remarkable story to follow amid trade tensions plaguing the international commerce, said Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
"I am mostly interested in the economic transformation of China. In a very short time, so many people came out of poverty and China became a major force in a couple of decades. It was a great achievement," Sak told Xinhua in an exclusive interview ahead of his attendance at the Understanding China Conference scheduled for Dec. 16-18 in Beijing.
The influential expert from TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank, indicated that China has been doing well regarding its approach to new technologies, a sector in which collaborations with other countries such as Turkey could be built to give weight to sustainable development.
Sak said that developing new technologies can help countries achieve "a win-win situation" not only in sustainable development, but also in a global economic growth.
Noting increasing trade between Turkey and China in recent years, Sak suggested that both countries could engage in "new experiments," referring to Chinese-Turkish joint investments in the Middle East and Africa, a huge market in which both Ankara and Beijing are interested.
"China and Turkey work well in this region (Middle East) but this requires a strong strategy from our part (Turkey)," he added.
China was the biggest exporter to Turkey as the export volume reached 23.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, while Turkey the 54th to China with an export volume of 2.9 billion dollars, according to official figures.
More than 40 international participants from political, academic and business areas in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have confirmed their attendance at the upcoming conference in Beijing.
This will be the third Understanding China Conference. The two previous ones were held in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
