By Merve Ozlem Cakir and Cuneyt Kemal Ozkok

ANKARA

Ankara wants to increase bilateral trade volume with Sudan to $2 billion, Turkey's Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Ahmet Esref Fakibaba said on Thursday.

"The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Sudan is around $500 million. We aim to increase it to $2 billion in the medium term with the trade and economic partnership agreement that we have signed," Fakibaba said at a meeting with Sudan's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Abdullatif Ahmed Ijaimi in the capital Ankara.

Fakibaba said Sudan is a "brotherly" country and both countries can cooperate in plant production, livestock, rural development, trade, investment and mining.

"We take it as our duty to give any kind of support to Sudan," he added.

Ijaimi said the current bilateral trade volume did not reflect the potential. "It is important for us to take trade volume to $2 billion in the medium term."

Late December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Khartoum and called for greater Turkish investment in Sudan.