MARUF BUZCUGİL
Trade Minister Omer Bolat announced that President Erdogan will pay an official visit to Germany on November 17-18. Updating the Customs Union will also be on Erdoğan’s agenda.
Minister Bolat, also co-chair of the Turkey-Germany Economic and Trade Joint Commission (ETOK/JETCO), and Federal Minister of Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habeck, who is also the Deputy Chancellor of Germany signed a protocol regarding the commission’s 4th-period meeting.
Following the meetings, Robert Habeck hosted a reception at Atakule with the organization of the German Embassy. Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır also attended the event.
Speaking at a reception in Ankara, German Deputy Federal Chancellor Robert Habeck said that economic relations between Germany and Turkey are traditionally strong and emphasized that the trade volume between the two countries is heading towards a new record. Noting that economic relations between Germany and Turkey are traditionally strong, Habeck said, “There are some German companies that have been operating in Turkey for more than 100 years.”
Deputy Chancellor of Germany emphasized that the trade volume between the two countries is heading towards a new record. “We talked about how we can make the current Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union (EU) work better, how we can improve it in cases where it is not working well yet,” Habeck said.
Customs Union on the agenda
Speaking with journalists at Habeck’s invitation, Trade Minister Omer Bolat announced that President Erdogan will pay an official visit to Germany on November 17-18 and that the issue of updating the Customs Union will be on his agenda.
Bolat made the following statement regarding the ETOK talks with Germany: “We had a very productive meeting with Germany, one of our largest trade partners, on our mutual trade, the update of the Customs Union, the European Green Deal, and visa application, and we recorded our cooperation with mutual signatures.”
Trade volume with Germany to reach 50 billion dollars
Trade Minister Omer Bolat reminded that the bilateral trade volume between Germany and Turkey was 45 billion dollars last year and emphasized the increase in trade volume as follows: “We expect our bilateral trade volume to exceed 50 billion dollars by the end of this year. More than 8 thousand companies with German capital or established in partnership with German capital are operating in our country. As of the end of 2022, Germany’s direct investments in our country exceeded 23 billion, 100 million dollars. We believe that we can further increase our mutual trade, cooperation, and investments by creating new opportunities.”
Simsek: We have more than 8 thousand German companies
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, who met with German Deputy Prime Minister Habeck, shared the following message about the meeting: “We expect the foreign trade volume between both countries to exceed 50 billion dollars by the end of this year. In our country, there are more than 8 thousand companies with German capital or established with German capital partnership. We discussed investment opportunities and shared the details of our Medium Term Program with Mr. Habeck in order to further increase the strong ties and cooperation between both countries. We believe that Germany will provide stronger support in developing our relations with the European Union in the coming period.”
Vice President Yilmaz met with Habeck
Deputy President Cevdet Yılmaz received German Federal Deputy Prime Minister Robert Habeck, Federal Minister of Economy and Climate Protection, at the Parliament as he was in the Parliament for the budget negotiations. Following the meeting, Yılmaz gave information about the content of his meeting with Habeck, upon the question of the deputies in the Plan and Budget Commission. Yılmaz said that the visa issue in the context of the European Union, especially the relations between Germany and Turkey, the updating of the customs union and the developments in the region were discussed. Some countries imposed their national interests on Turkey through the EU institutions and this situation harmed the relations between Turkey and the European Union, Yilmaz said during the meeting. He emphasized mutual cooperation in areas such as economy, energy, and migration policy would benefit both Turkey and Europe.