President Pranab Mukherjee has begun his state visit to Turkey emphasising on the need for peace at the border for development and harmony to take place. Soon after arriving in Istanbul from Belgium in the second leg of his tour, Mukherjee started his schedule with accepting Honorary Doctorate Degree at the Istanbul University a shortwhile ago.

In his acceptance speech, Mukherjee said, both India and Turkey live in extremely difficult geography and they are aware of the great challenges to their internal as well as external security.

His itinery in Turky includes visits to Capadocia and the capital city of Ankara where he would interact with his counterpart. In an interview to Turkish newspaper 'Today's Zaman', he came down heavily on Pakistan and said unless it dismantles the terror infrastructure on its soil, there is no scope for progress in talks between the two countries.

Earlier, interacting with news persons on board the flight from Belgium at the end his 3 day state visit, Mukherjee recalled his his interaction with King Phillipe and Prime Minister Elio De Rupo and said Belgium leaders have reiterated their support for India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and for reforms of the world body.

He said they have also voiced their support to India's efforts for developing civil nuclear cooperation. Mukherjee said he had discussions on important areas of bilateral economic cooperation including the joint effort in mordnization of India's Railway sector, Nuclear Waste Management and Science and Technology.

He had also urged the Belgium leadership to encourage enhanced investment in India particularly in sectors like ports, roads, railways, green technology, aerospace and pharmaceuticals. He said India is greatly looking forward to the largest Belgium Economic Mission in the next month.

Replying to the querrie on the impact of US economic crisis Mukherjee said that India wants to have its economy recover faster. He, however, clarified that it is not possible solely on the basis of Domestic efforts. He said, it requires conducive external environment as well.