Turkiye is ‘major economic partner, candidate country, and key NATO ally,’ says European commissioner at first high-level economic dialogue in over 3 years
Turkish and EU officials and business leaders alike praised economic relations between Turkiye and the bloc Tuesday at a high-level business dialogue meeting in Istanbul, with a packed gathering discussing ways to further bilateral economic cooperation.
Organized by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkiye (TOBB) and European Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Eurochambres), the meeting started with opening remarks by Faruk Kaymakci, Turkiye’s deputy foreign minister and director for EU affairs,Oliver Varhelyi, European commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, TOBB head and Eurochambres Vice President Rifat Hisarciklioglu, and Eurochambres President Luc Frieden.
The last Turkiye-EU High Level Economic Dialogue was held in February 2019, three-and-a-half years ago.
Addressing the participants, Kaymakci underlined the importance of bilateral travel between the EU and Turkiye, and touched on the issue of facilitating visas as well.
As Turkish officials say the EU failed to live up to its promise of visa-free travel under a 2016 migration pact, in recent months members of the Turkish public and businesspeople have said visa procedures for Europe take months, involve too much paperwork, and are rejected far too often.
Varhelyi started his speech by praising Turkiye as “a major economic partner, a candidate country, and a key NATO ally.”
He said the “complex relations” between Turkiye and the EU are “very important these days,” especially due to the war in Ukraine.
‘Long-lasting, unique partnership’
Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said Turkiye and the EU have a “long-lasting and unique partnership” covering many key areas such as trade, security, migration, and energy.
“Among all these areas, trade has a central role in relations between Turkiye and the EU,” Mus said. “The backbone of our partnership with the EU is the (1963) Ankara Agreement and the (1995) Customs Union as its ultimate outcome.”
“The volume of trade between the EU and Turkiye has increased almost sixfold during the period of the Customs Union, and it is expected to reach $200 billion by the end of this year,” he added.
In the meeting’s welcoming remarks, Hisarciklioglu underlined the importance of cooperation.
“It is important to sit together as the EU and Turkiye business communities, Turkish government and European Commission, and talk about the current situation and ways and means to find commons solutions,” he said.
The annual trade in goods between the EU and Turkiye has recently hit €132 billion ($123.3 billion), Hisarciklioglu said, adding that Turkiye’s exports to the EU are valued at around €63 billion.
“These exports consist mainly of machinery and transport equipment, clothing, agriculture, and raw materials,” he said.
Frieden praised the deep economic relations between Turkiye and the EU, calling Turkiye an “important business partner.”
“That’s why I’m happy that we have dialogue today,” he said.
Negotiations for customs union
Speaking to reporters following the business dialogue meeting as well as his bilateral talks with Varhelyi, Kaymakci said two important meeting have taken place on the occasion of the European commissioner’s third visit to Turkiye.
According to Kaymakci, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, economic problems caused by the Russian war in Ukraine, and the climate change have clearly showed the necessity of increasing the trade and investment between Turkiye and the EU.
Turkiye’s expectation is to start the negotiations for customs union “as soon as possible,” the Turkish official said. He also called for “facilitating the visa services” until Turkiye obtains visa liberalization.
“Our second important meeting and the main reason for the visit of the EU enlargement commissioner to our country is the official establishment and announcement of the Turkish investment platform,” Kaymakci said.