Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, known for his intensive diplomacy and negotiation efforts on Middle East cases, particularly Syria, has embarked for the first time since taking office on a lengthy Asia-Pacific tour, visiting four countries in succession.
Fidan traveled to Singapore on June 2, Indonesia on June 3, the Republic of Korea on June 4, and Bangladesh on June 5. In his first extended Southeast Asia visits, economic cooperation emerged as the central theme of his agenda. Discussions highlighted cooperation in defense industry, digital economy and technology, energy and infrastructure investments, and expanding bilateral trade volume.
According to South Korean media reports, during what was the first Turkish foreign ministerial visit to Korea in five years, Fidan met with his counterpart to discuss cooperation in trade, nuclear energy, and infrastructure. Fidan said: “In our meetings with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, we reaffirmed our shared will to develop our trade relations and increase mutual investments; we also discussed potential joint initiatives in strategic sectors such as nuclear energy, transportation, defense industry, and advanced technologies.”
In his talks in Singapore, Fidan also said they had assessed “result-oriented steps to advance cooperation across a wide range of areas, particularly economy, trade, investment, defense industry, security, digital transformation, and connectivity.”
Singapore is globally recognized as a hub for managing semiconductor supply chain disruptions, artificial intelligence, and digital finance.
Following Singapore, Fidan traveled to Indonesia—one of Southeast Asia’s largest economies—where he emphasized the importance of “two friendly countries acting together in critical times,” highlighting efforts to expand trade volume as well as growing cooperation in defense industry and technology transfer in recent years.
Turkey’s “Asia Anew” initiative, launched in 2019, aims to enhance economic and commercial cooperation with Asian countries on a mutually beneficial basis and increase investments across the region.
