Wagdy Abdelaziz
Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat, Minister of Trade, Republic of Türkiye, has stressed that his country attaches great importance to strengthening international trade partnerships in light of the current global economic challenges.
He pointed out that Turkiye seeks to establish new frameworks of cooperation based on transparency and reducing trade barriers through multilateral dialogue initiatives, such as the Emerging Markets Forum which hold in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Istanbul this April.
In statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of AIM Congress 2025 being held in Abu Dhabi, the Minister stated that in an increasingly fragmented world, maintaining market openness has become more challenging. “The rise of protectionism, trade barriers, and geopolitical tensions threatens to undermine the global trading system. To maintain market openness, we must focus on building frameworks that promote transparency and reduce barriers to trade. This includes addressing non-tariff barriers and supporting policies that facilitate cross-border investment.”
He pointed out that Turkiye sees the need to build an environment conducive to resuming growth in global trade and investment by confronting unfair practices, stressing the importance of multilateral cooperation within frameworks such as the World Trade Organisation, UNCTAD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20.
He further stated, “Within this understanding, we are launching a joint dialogue initiative together with the OECD hold on 10 April 2025 in İstanbul under the name of “Emerging Markets Forum”, to tackle with the issues related to the efficiency of global value chains and connectivity. We are aiming to make this Forum a regular global dialogue platform for fostering cooperation around issues of relevance for emerging economies.”
The Turkish Minister went on to say, “Since 2003, the number of Turkish commercial offices in Africa rose from 4 to 31. Secondly, it meant a completed legal framework for trade and investments with African countries. Türkiye signed “Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement” with 50 African countries, “the Agreement on Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investments” with 31 African countries, and “the Agreement of the Prevention of the Double Taxation” with 18 African countries. Türkiye also signed the Free Trade Agreement with 5 African countries.”
He said, “At the same time, when we launched our Strategy for the continent in 2003, Türkiye-Africa trade volume was US$5.4 billion, and by 2024 it had reached US$37 billion. On the other hand, basically, there are Turkish entrepreneurs and businesses in each of the 54 countries. The total market value of Turkish investments in Africa stands currently at US$10 billion. Turkish contracting companies have so far undertaken 2.021 projects with a value of US$96.6 billion in the African continent.”
The Minister said, “In the last 20 years, our trade volume with the Middle East and Gulf countries has increased nearly 7-fold from US$8.9 billion (2003) to US$61.7 billion by the end of 2024.”
“In this framework, approximately US$14 billion of investment has been attracted from the Gulf countries to our country so far, and our trade volume with these countries has increased almost 14 times from US$2.1 billion in 2002 to US$27.7 billion in 2024.”
He noted, ” We think that the Türkiye-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement which is still being negotiated will significantly increase trade and economic relations between GCC and Türkiye. I would also like to remind at this point that we have already signed Free Trade Agreements with the UAE and Qatar in the past years.
“Our companies have successfully completed prestigious and large-scale projects in the Middle East and Gulf regions, which have wide financing opportunities. Approximately 2,400 projects with a total value of US$126 billion have been undertaken by our contracting companies in the region to date. Projects within the scope of the Gulf countries’ Development Visions offer significant opportunities for our contracting companies.”
Dr. Ömer Bolat said, “Our Ministry continues its efforts to channel our exporters to promising markets. In this regard, we have enacted the “Faraway Countries Strategy”. Also, with the Far Countries Strategy, the Export Development Strategy with the Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, we would to increase the share of Muslim countries in our exports from 26% to 30%. With our 2025 Export Action Plan, we take more concrete steps and support our exporters in a more systematic way.
“Commercial diplomacy activities are carried out effectively and intensively in order to develop Türkiye’s commercial and economic relations and to protect our commercial interests. We have our Commercial Missions under our Embassies in 109 different countries and 161 offices and 234 Commercial Counsellors and Attaches are working in these missions to support our exporters to access new markets and help them with their needs in respective countries. ”