H.E. Ambassador Selçuk Ünal’s Speech at Sichuan Agriculture University Ya’an Campus(18.10.2025)

Distinguished Guests,
Dear Colleagues,
It is a great pleasure to visit Ya’an and to address to you shortly at the Sichuan Agriculture University, an important top-tier agriculture university.
Türkiye and China are two ancient civilizations with deep-rooted relations dating back to centuries ago.
The historical Silk Road was the foundation of these ties. Our ancestors exchanged envoys, agricultural goods, silk and spices. They shared culture, art and technology. Today, this spirit of connectivity continues with China’s Belt and Road (BRI) and Türkiye’s Middle Corridor Initiatives.
Just two days ago, our Minister of Agriculture, H.E. İbrahim Yumaklı, visited Shanghai to attend the BRI Import Export Food Safety Conference and our Vice Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Ahmet Bağcı, co-chaired the 3rd Agriculture Steering Committee in Beijing. As an important producer of fresh fruits, vegetables, aquatic products and cereals, Türkiye stands ready to increase the export of agricultural and aquatic products to China and to enhance bilateral agriculture cooperation.
Moreover, like China, Türkiye attaches great importance to food safety, domestic agricultural production and use of high-technology in agriculture. To this end, academic and scientific exchanges through joint R&D projects and student exchange programs carry an important potential to further improve our agricultural cooperation.
This August, during the SCO Summit in Tianjin, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Xi Jinping once again underlined the strategic importance and necessity of further enhancing our bilateral relations in all fields.
Cooperation in the academic field is an essential contributor for people-to-people exchanges. We can learn more about each other’s experience on agriculture, forestry, irrigation, environmental challenges and green economy.
Currently, over 8 million students are enrolled in Turkish universities, making Türkiye one of the largest higher education hubs in its region.

An important component of Türkiye’s educational strategy is internationalization. We are proud to host more than 300,000 international students from over 180 countries.
In this vein, we encourage more Chinese students to study in Turkish universities, especially through Türkiye Scholarships. Likewise, we hope to see an increase of nearly 1200 Turkish students studying in Chinese universities, among whom only 73 students receive Chinese Government Scholarship.
I once again extend my gratitude to the organizers of this valuable event. Thank you.