President of the Turkish-Libyan Businessmen Association Murtaza Karanfil, “If visa application starts between Turkiye and Libya at the door, both our exports and the number of tourists coming to our country from Libya will increase exponentially.”
Turkiye’s exports to Libya amounted to $758 million in the January-April period.
According to the statement made by the Turkish-Libyan Businessmen’s Association, Turkiye, which continued its commercial activities with Libya with an export of $2.4 billion last year, continues to develop its bilateral relations with the said country this year as well. According to the figures compiled by the association from TIM data, Turkiye’s exports to Libya reached $758 million in the first 4 months of the year, despite cost increases and earthquakes.
In the first 4 months, the highest exports were realized in the chemical substances and products group with $105.2 million, followed by ready-made clothing and apparel with $103.4 million, and cereals, pulses, oilseeds and products sectors with $102.7 million.
During this period, furniture, paper and forestry products worth $94.4 million, electrical and electronic products worth $53.5 million, iron and non-ferrous products worth $46.2 million were exported to Libya.
Murtaza Karanfil, Chairman of the Turkish-Libyan Businessmen Association and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Karanfil Group, whose views were included in the statement, noted that Turkish exporters continued to deliver their products to all over the world in the January-April period despite all the negativities.
Expressing that Turkiye’s exports in the first 4 months were parallel to the same period of the previous year, despite the global adversities and the devastating effect of the earthquakes, Karanfil said that the foreign sales to Libya approached $760 million.
Karanfil said, “Our Turkish industrialists and SMEs do not stop, they produce and export. Libya is also on its way to becoming our main markets. In the January-April period, tobacco was the leading sector with the highest increase in exports with 253.4%, followed by the air-conditioning industry with 32.1%.’
Kanfil pointed out that visa applications and direct flights are very important in inter-country trade and emphasized that exports to countries with these practices are increasing rapidly.
Reminding that in April, Egypt decided to apply a visa at the door for Turkish citizens, Karanfil made the following assessments:
‘We must act quickly so that the same practice happens in Libya, and we must proceed in this regard as soon as possible. There is a great demand from the Libyan people regarding the visa application at the door. If the visa application starts between Turkiye and Libya, both our exports and the number of tourists coming to our country from Libya will increase exponentially. Because Libyans want to come to Turkiye and import from here. If he is going to buy something from abroad, he wants to buy it from Turkiye and take it from here. Libyans love us very much and see us as brothers. The win-win understanding between the two countries, which has been going on for years and embodied in the recent agreements, will reach its historical peak with the application of paper visas.’
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz