Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, John Baird paid a visit to Turkey on September 14, 2013. At the meetings between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, bilateral relations as well as latest developments regarding international and regional issues were discussed.

Speaking at the joint press conference Foreign Minister Davutoğlu underlined the acceleration of bilateral relations between Turkey and Canada and pointed out to the increase in the high level visits between the two countries. Stating that Turkey and Canada are partners working together in G-20 and NATO, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu mentioned his belief that today the relations between the two countries would have been at a higher level, if not for the effects of issues that were not directly related to the bilateral relations and some conjunctural issues.

Underlining that the foreign trade volume between two countries is 2.5 billion dollars and that Canadian investments in Turkey amount to 460 million dollars, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that “Primarily, we want the free trade agreement negotiations to start immediately. Beginning of free trade agreement negotiations is important both for our bilateral relations, for the EU-USA negotiations which are called transatlantic investment and trade initiative and also for the free trade negotiations between Canada and the EU. We agreed to display a strong political will to take the initiative on this issue and to conclude these negotiations at the earliest time.”

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu noted that Turkey and Canada have a common approach to the developments in Syria and in the region and stated that “Today we have confirmed again; bloodshed in Syria should be stopped as soon as possible. Those who are responsible for the chemical weapons attacks should be punished.”

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