President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira at the Presidential Dolmabahçe Office in Istanbul on Saturday, 14 November, Turkish media including Star, Yeni Şafak, Takvim, Türkiye Gazetesi and Aksiyon reported. The meeting began shortly after 14:00 local time.
No details of the content of the talks had been released by mid-afternoon, according to Manşet Haber and Türkiye Gazetesi, and no agreements were reported. Takvim and Haber.com said economic relations, trade, mutual investment and strategic cooperation were expected to be on the agenda.
Paz came to Türkiye for the COP31 UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye Gazetesi and Haber.com reported.
Business round table: trade target above $1 billion
Before the talks with Erdoğan, Paz attended a Türkiye-Bolivia round table in Istanbul hosted by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), Anadolu Agency (via İstanbul Ticaret Gazetesi), Fuar Dergisi and Türkiye Gazetesi reported.
Paz told Turkish business people that Bolivia aims to complete reforms of its investment, mining and hydrocarbons legislation within the year to give foreign investors legal certainty, according to the same reports. He described a new economic model in which the private sector would be the main engine of growth and the state would act mainly as a regulator rather than a direct producer, Anadolu Agency and Fuar Dergisi reported.
DEİK board member Firuz Bağlıkaya said bilateral trade was about $820 million in 2025 and that the shared goal was to raise it above $1 billion, Anadolu Agency, Fuar Dergisi and Türkiye Gazetesi reported. He pointed to lithium and other critical minerals as possible areas for joint projects, alongside energy, infrastructure, machinery, agricultural technology, defence and advanced manufacturing, according to Anadolu Agency and Fuar Dergisi.
Business council plans
Mert Pur, chairman of the DEİK Türkiye-Bolivia Business Council, named energy, construction and defence as priority sectors, according to Anadolu Agency and Fuar Dergisi. He said the council plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with Bolivia’s National Chamber of Industry (CNI) and to hold a joint business meeting in Bolivia in 2027, the same outlets reported.
Sources
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’ın Bolivya Lideri Rodrigo Paz Pereira ile görüşmesi başladı (Star)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan Bolivya Cumhurbaşkanı Paz Pereira ile görüştü (Yeni Şafak)
- Başkan Erdoğan, Bolivya Cumhurbaşkanı Pereira’yı Dolmabahçe’de ağırladı (Takvim)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, Bolivya Cumhurbaşkanı Rodrigo Paz Pereira’yı kabul etti (Türkiye Gazetesi)
- Erdoğan Bolivya cumhurbaşkanı Pereira ile Dolmabahçe’de görüştü (Aksiyon)
- Dolmabahçe’de Erdoğan-Pereira görüşmesi (Manşet Haber)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, Bolivya Cumhurbaşkanı Rodrigo Paz Pereira’yı Dolmabahçe’de Kabul Etti (Haber.com)
- DEİK ev sahipliğinde Türkiye-Bolivya Yuvarlak Masa Toplantısı düzenlendi (İstanbul Ticaret Gazetesi / AA)
- DEİK, Bolivya Devlet Başkanı Pereira’yı Türk İş Dünyasıyla Buluşturdu (Fuar Dergisi)
Photo: EEJCC / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
