Hitting out at developed countries, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday said the failure of the Cancun WTO meeting showed that those who lectured developing nations on immediate sacrifices for long-term gains were not willing to follow their own prescriptions.

Complete coverage of Vajpayee's visit | More news reports

"If developing countries are to hold out for a more open and non-discriminatory global trade regime, India and Turkey should coordinate their positions with other like-minded countries," he said in his keynote address to the Centre for Strategy Research in Ankara.

Vajpayee said with large rural populations, India and Turkey were particularly interested in removing distortions and inequities in the regime for export of agricultural commodities.                         

Vajpayee said New Delhi and Ankara could also work together on other key global issues like environment and sustainable development.

Outlining six main issues on which the two countries could coordinate their positions, he said they could play an important role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

"We do not share physical borders, but we do have a vast common extended neighbourhood -- in Central Asia, West Asia and the Gulf. It is of even greater significance that while our interests overlap in this area, nowhere do they clash," he said.

In this regard, he said Indian and Turkish companies were collaborating on the construction of an oil pipeline in Central Asia and in the prospecting for oil in North Africa.