Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the opening ceremony of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Excellence Centers in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, Turkey, on Aug. 9, 2020. Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey has become the third country to develop vaccines locally against COVID-19 after the United States and China, according to the World Health Organization. (Xinhua)

Turkey and Kazakhstan aim to reach the target of $10 billion in bilateral trade, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"We evaluated the possibilities of further development and deepening of our cooperation," Erdogan said at a joint press conference held with visiting Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the capital Ankara.

"The trade volume between Turkey and Kazakhstan exceeded 5.3 billion dollars last year. Thus, we have surpassed our target of 5 billion US dollars in a short time. We will reach our target of 10 billion with speedy steps," Erdogan said.

2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, Erdogan said, adding that the two countries have raised their cooperation to the level of an enhanced strategic partnership.

The two leaders discussed the regional impacts of the Ukrainian crisis and expressed their views for the peaceful resolution. "We are on the same page on the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Erdogan added.

For his part, Tokayev called Turkey "a very important strategic partner for Kazakhstan."

Turkey was the first country to recognize Kazakhstan's independence, Tokayev said, stressing that the Kazakh people will never forget this.

This is the first state visit to Turkey made by Tokayev after he took office.

The two governments signed 15 agreements in the fields  including transportation, defense industry, military intelligence, information technologies, culture, agriculture, transportation, and archives.

Xinhua