The COVID-19 shows a declining trend in the country. The number of daily coronavirus cases fell to 7,839 and the death toll dropped 197 in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, 27.8 million people have totally been vaccinated to date in the country, while 11.9 million of them have received the second dose. This figure placed Turkey among the top 10 states with the highest number inoculations in the world after China, the U.S., India, the UK, Brazil, Germany, France and Italy, respectively, according to the ‘ourworldindata.org’, the UK based informative website collecting the COVID-19 vaccination data.
On the tourism side, the country aims to inoculate all tourism professionals by the end of this month, according to Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. In the meantime, the country continues high-level talks with Russia to lift travel restrictions while many agencies in Russia delivered an open letter addressing the Moscow administration to open popular destinations of Russians including Turkey as soon as possible.
In the meantime, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives President of Poland Andrzej Sebastian Duda today. Both parties will discuss bilateral relations and exchange ideas about current regional and international developments. An agreement on purchase of Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is also expected to be signed. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak previously announced that his country will buy 24 Bayraktar TB2 type UAVs from Turkey, according to Polish news agency PAP. Poland will be the first EU member to buy UAVs from Turkey in case the agreement is signed. The situation raises hopes to a certain extent especially in a time, when the EU starts talking about suspending accession negotiations in its recent report…
Another development regarding the international arena was that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a phone call with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 22 to discuss human rights and democracy, areas of cooperation in Syria and Afghanistan and talks with Greece. “Continued cooperation with our NATO Ally Turkey on shared priorities is of paramount importance,” wrote Secretary Blinken on his Twitter account.
Looking at the money market under these developments, USD/TRY started the week at 8.38, while EUR/TRY hovers around 10.21-10.27.
Gold prices are still on the rise as USD continues to have a weak course and declining trend in cryptocurrencies increases demand. Spot gold is traded at USD 1,881 this morning.
Oil prices, meanwhile, also increased due to adverse weather conditions and decreasing hopes about positive outcomes from indirect nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. Brent crude rose by 1.10% to USD 67.17 per barrel, while the U.S. crude oil increased by 0.6% to USD 63.93.
DAILY AGENDA
President Erdogan will receive Polish President Andrzej Sebastian Duda (3.00 pm).
The Ministry of Tourism and Culture will release foreign visitor statistics for April (11.00 am). The number of foreign visitors increased by 26.07% on annual basis with the base effect last month.
The Central Bank will release the Financial Services Confidence Index for May (2.30 pm). The index stood at 157.7 points last month.
IN OUR MAGAZINE THIS WEEK:
>> On the cover: A culinary academy is going global with ambitious steps. Mehmet Aksel, the founder of MSA, has built a robust business model and poised to replicate and duplicate it in major capitals of the world with Sitare Baras, Coordinator of the company. You can read the details of the interview by our Editor Erdinc Ergenc in pages 14 and 15.
>> Professor Ilter Turan: You can read ‘Biden’s very Trumpian Israeli policy’ on page 10.
>> Q&A: Prof. Dr. Mehmet Emin Birpinar, Deputy Minister of Environment and Urbanization, Chief Negotiator for Climate Change. P. 11
>> Diplomacy: ‘No progress is possible with the EU under current framework. P.12
>> Startup: Hello Tomorrow Turkey invites deep tech startups to global arena. P. 16
>> Energy: New trends require visionary executives in energy. You can read the details on page 22.
>> Zeynep Gurcanli: Trump pushes Ankara is alienated. P.24
>> Do not miss Time Out’s alternatives for the week.
