Finance Minister Nebati meets Saudi trade minister

ISTANBUL

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati met with Saudi Arabia’s Trade Minister, Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, in Istanbul on Nov. 27 to discuss bilateral ties.

The meeting was very productive, Nebati wrote on Twitter.

“At the meeting, we evaluated economic, commercial and financial cooperation between our countries. We agreed to further develop our cooperation in those areas,” the minister said.

Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have been pressing ahead with efforts to repair ties that were strained by the slaying of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid a visit to Saudi Arabia in April this year to hold talks with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The president said that his talks with top Saudi officials would open the door to a new era in bilateral ties, particularly in the fields of economy, trade, finance, health, energy and defense industries.

Recalling that he paid the visit upon the invitation of King Salman, Erdoğan stressed that both nations were in an effort to start a new era in ties by upgrading the level of political, economic and military ties as two brotherly countries.

In June, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Ankara.
Erdoğan said talks with Prince Mohammed focused on advancing Turkish-Saudi relations to a “much higher degree.”

Türkiye’s exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to $502 million in January-September, while imports from Saudi Arabia stood at $3.39 billion. Last year, Türkiye’s exports to and imports from Saudi Arabia were $265 million and $3.46 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, Nebati also met with the United Arab Emirate’s Economy Minister, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, on Nov. 28.

“We evaluated the economic cooperation between our countries as well as the regional and global economic developments,” the minister said on Twitter.