The willingness proven by Türkiye to develop the customs union into new areas comparable to e-commerce, investments, alignment with the inexperienced financial system and public procurement is being reciprocated by the European Union, a high official stated Monday amid the primary high-level commerce dialogue held between the buying and selling companions in Brussels.
“Since our government took office, we have been in intensive contact with the EU, and this is our sixth meeting within the past year,” Trade Minister Ömer Bolat advised journalists following a roundtable assembly within the Belgian capital.
He talked about that they’ve been intently collaborating with European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and his staff from the Directorate-General for Trade for over a 12 months, formally initiating the EU-Türkiye High-Level Trade Dialogue with the primary assembly on Monday.
Reiterating that they arrived in Brussels with a delegation from the Trade Ministry, Bolat famous that they began the day with a roundtable assembly bringing collectively leaders of the Turkish and EU business communities.
Evaluating the discussions, he stated, “Before our official meetings in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to hear from business leaders who expressed their views on Türkiye-EU relations, the modernization of the customs union, new digital and green economy initiatives, visa issues and deficiencies in transport quotas.”
The modernization of the Nineteen Nineties commerce deal, which is restricted to industrial items and processed agricultural merchandise, has usually been on the agenda lately, with officers usually underlining the necessity to develop it to incorporate important areas comparable to companies and e-commerce.
Bolat additionally identified that each the Turkish and EU business communities are glad with the present stage of financial relations, underscoring the rising commerce quantity over time.
“As of last year, our mutual trade volume reached $211 billion, marking a record high,” the minister stated, recalling that the customs union started 28 years in the past, resulting in a sevenfold enhance in commerce throughout this era.
Furthermore, he emphasised that over the previous 21 years, Türkiye has turn out to be a big exporter, notably in industrial merchandise and agriculture, and has additionally turn out to be the eleventh largest financial system in companies worldwide.
“On top of these successes, the desire put forward by the Turkish side to expand the customs union in new areas such as e-commerce, investments, adaptation to the green economy and public procurement after 28 years is also reciprocated by the EU,” Bolat said, including that the EU Commission has a extremely constructive angle on this difficulty.
“The EU business world also expressed their satisfaction with the economic integration with Türkiye. They also emphasized the importance of further developing trade, industry, economic cooperation and integration with Türkiye,” he stated.
“We thoroughly assessed the expectations and suggestions of the business community regarding the functioning of the customs union, the current state of bilateral trade and the further development of economic relations, with a particular focus on the modernization of the customs union,” the minister stated individually in a submit on X.
“We observed a consensus among our business communities that strengthening economic relations between the EU and Türkiye and modernizing the customs union are in the mutual interest of both Türkiye and the EU,” he added.
“We agreed that the joint steps to be taken in this regard would significantly contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of both the EU and Türkiye in global value chains. In this context, we will resolutely continue our efforts to deepen our trade and economic relations with the EU, our most important trading partner, and to strengthen these relations by expanding them into different areas.”
On the subject of visa points, the minister stated: “A joint call was made to overcome the problems regarding visa issues. We will continue to work on these issues.”
Bolat concluded his remarks by saying he hoped that this assembly could be “an important turning point in Türkiye-EU economic and trade integration.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com