ANKARA:Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was leaving Saturday for the first official visit toChina by a Turkish premier in 27 years, an aide from his office told AFP.
Erdogan will first make a stopover inChina's far-west Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, the aide said Saturday speaking on condition of anonymity.
A predominantly Muslim country,Turkeyshares linguistic and religious links with the Uighur community, which has several associations here.
AnkaraacceptsChina's sovereignty over Xinjiang, but heavily criticised the 2009 violence in the region, denouncing what it described as "atrocities."
The aide said Erdogan would continue his tour with visits toBeijingandShanghai.
Erdogan's trip, which is expected to last until April 11, follows Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit toAnkaraandIstanbulin February which saw the signing of several cooperation deals in agriculture, finance and banking.
The two countries' central banks also inked a currency swap agreement worth 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion), as part ofBeijing's move to promote international usage of the Chinese currency.
Trade betweenTurkeyandChinasoared from $1.0 billion in 2000 to $19.5 billion in 2010, according to official figures. But the balance of trade is heavily inChina's favour.
ChinaandTurkeyhave set a timetable to increase their trade volume to $50 billion by 2015 and $100 billion by 2020.
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