Huawei, a leading Chinese company in new generation telecommunication solutions, Saturday opened its research and development center in the largest Turkish city of Istanbul.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Huawei Global Vice President Jiang Yafei said "We will become a strong team full of innovative spirit through the research and development center in Turkey and grow towards a successful future in the global telecom industry."

Huawei started its operation in Turkey in 2002 and now has more than 500 employees. It plans to employ 500 Turkish engineers in the next three years, Jiang said.

He added "We will invest more than 50 million U.S. dollars to build the research and development team."

Turkish Transport and Communication Minister Binali Yildirim and Chinese Ambassador Gong Xiaosheng attended the opening ceremony along with about 300 participants from the two countries.

The Turkish minister said Huawei is a good model and he expressed his welcome to investment from China.

Huawei is one of the leaders in delivering new generation telecommunication products to operators worldwide with 15 research and development centers and 20 innovation centers across the world.