Qatar Post buys stake in Turkish Souq

ISTANBUL

Qatar Postal Service (Qatar Post) has acquired a 40 percent stake in the Turkish e-commerce platform Turkish Souq.

The deal came after President Recep Erdoğan’s visit to Qatar last month, part of his three-nation Gulf tour, which also included Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The primary focus of Erdoğan’s Gulf tour was to attract investments and foster economic ties between Türkiye and the Gulf region.

Turkish Souq was launched in 2018 in partnership with the Turkish postal service PTT and Qatar Post.

The e-commerce platform helps small and medium-sized companies sell their products, such as furniture, apparel, goods, sports equipment and beauty products, in foreign markets.

Some 300,000 products on the platform are presently being shipped to 50 countries.

The size of the deal was not unveiled.

Last week, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said that investments from the Gulf countries as part of the agreements signed last month may begin this year.

“We have a productive dialogue with the Gulf countries. The most concrete indicator of this is the $51 billion investment package deal announced [in July]. We expect some of those investments will begin this year,” Şimşek said in an interview with a Turkish newspaper.

Erdoğan's Gulf tour started with a stop in Saudi Arabia, where a substantial drone procurement contract was signed with Turkish defense firm Baykar.

The president later traveled to Qatar, where Türkiye and Qatar signed a joint statement, and nearly 100 other documents were exchanged to enhance bilateral cooperation in various sectors.