Turkey’s Babacan: need to talk to China on currency

Turkey would like to see China increase the value of its currency but believes this will be achieved only by talking to Beijing, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said on Wednesday.
"We would have loved to see a stronger Chinese currency. That's for sure," Babacan told reporters in Washington. "But … it has to be done through talking with the Chinese. Pressure doesn't work."
Babacan's comment come amid escalating disputes over exchange rates that could threaten global trade and economic recovery. Both China and Turkey are members of the G20 group of rich and developing countries, which are due to meet in South Korea on Friday to discuss the next steps.
Turkey and China, which have two of the fastest growing economies in the world, announced earlier this month that they aim to treble bilateral trade to $50 bln a year by 2015 and to $100 bln by 2020 under a new "strategic partnership."
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the two sides had agreed to use the lira and the yuan, rather than dollars, in bilateral trade and singled out nuclear energy cooperation as a promising driver of trade.
Currently, bilateral trade of about $17 bln is made up mostly of Chinese exports to Turkey. Turkey wants to rebalance trade with China through more Chinese investments in Turkey, Chinese tourists, joint ventures in third countries and more access for Turkish goods in China.