The willingness shown by Türkiye to expand the customs union into new areas such as e-commerce, investments, alignment with the green economy and public procurement is being reciprocated by the European Union, a top official said Monday amid the first high-level trade dialogue held between the trading partners 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 told journalists following a roundtable meeting in the Belgian capital.
He mentioned that they have been closely collaborating with European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and his team from the Directorate-General for Trade for over a year, formally initiating the EU-Türkiye High-Level Trade Dialogue with the first meeting on Monday.
Reiterating that they arrived in Brussels with a delegation from the Trade Ministry, Bolat noted that they started the day with a roundtable meeting bringing together leaders of the Turkish and EU business communities.
Evaluating the discussions, he said, “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 1990s trade deal, which is limited to industrial goods and processed agricultural products, has often been on the agenda recently, with officials often underlining the need to expand it to include vital areas such as services and e-commerce.
Bolat also pointed out that both the Turkish and EU business communities are satisfied with the current level of economic relations, underscoring the increasing trade volume over the years.
“As of last year, our mutual trade volume reached $211 billion, marking a record high,” the minister said, recalling that the customs union began 28 years ago, leading to a sevenfold increase in trade during this period.
Furthermore, he emphasized that over the past 21 years, Türkiye has become a significant exporter, particularly in industrial products and agriculture, and has also become the 11th largest economy in services 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 stated, adding that the EU Commission has a highly positive attitude on this issue.
“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 said.
“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 said separately in a post 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 topic of visa issues, the minister said: “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 meeting would be “an important turning point in Türkiye-EU economic and trade integration.”