“Turkey’s desire to expand the customs union was met with reciprocity from the EU”

Turkey’s willingness to expand the customs union into new areas such as e-commerce, investment, adaptation to the green economy and public procurement is being reciprocated by the European Union, a senior official said on Monday at the first high-level trade dialogue held in Brussels.

“We have been in intensive contact with the EU since our government took office and this is our sixth meeting in the past year,” Trade Minister Ömer Bolat told reporters after a roundtable meeting in the Belgian capital.

He mentioned that they have been working closely with European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and his team from the Directorate-General for Trade for over a year, with the first meeting formally launching the EU-Turkey High-Level Trade Dialogue on Monday.

Reiterating that they came to Brussels with a delegation from the Ministry of Trade, Bolat noted that they started the day with a roundtable where leaders of the Turkish and EU business communities met.

Assessing the discussions, he said: “Before our official meetings in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to listen to business leaders who expressed their views on Turkey-EU relations, modernization of the Customs Union, new initiatives in the digital and green economy, visa issues and transport quota shortages.”

Modernizing the 1990s-era trade agreement, which is limited to manufactured goods and processed agricultural products, has been on the agenda recently, with officials frequently stressing the need to expand it to include important areas such as services and e-commerce.

Bolat also stressed that both the Turkish and EU business communities are satisfied with the current level of economic relations, which highlights the growing trade exchange over the years.

“Last year, the volume of our mutual trade reached $211 billion, which is a record,” the minister said, recalling that the customs union was established 28 years ago, which led to a seven-fold increase in trade turnover during this period.

He further stressed that over the past 21 years, Turkey has become a significant exporter, especially in the area of ​​industrial and agricultural products, as well as the 11th largest economy in the world in the services sector.

“In addition to these successes, the willingness expressed by the Turkish side to extend the Customs Union to new areas, such as e-commerce, investments, adaptation to the green economy and public procurement, after 28 years, is also met with reciprocity on the part of the EU,” Bolat said, adding that the European Commission has a very positive attitude towards this issue.

“The EU business community also expressed satisfaction with the economic integration with Turkey. They also stressed the importance of further developing trade, industry, economic cooperation and integration with Turkey,” he said.

“We have carefully 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 particular emphasis on the modernization of the customs union,” the minister said in a separate post on the X portal.

“We have seen a consensus among our business communities that strengthening EU-Turkey economic relations and modernising the Customs Union is in the common interest of both Turkey and the EU,” he added.

“We agreed that the joint steps to be taken in this regard will significantly contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the EU and Turkey 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 extending them to various areas.”

On the visa issue, the minister said: “A joint appeal was made to overcome the visa issues. We will continue to work on these issues.”

Bolat concluded his speech by saying he hoped the meeting would be “an important turning point in the economic and trade integration of Turkey and the EU.”