Turkey and US to create a high-level committee to increase trade and investment

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama leans out from under an umbrella to check if it's still raining, during a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, May 16, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. AP photo

Turkey and the United States will create a high-level committee that will focus on increasing trade and investment between the two countries, U.S. President Barack Obama announced during his joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Washington May 16. Alongside the Syria conflict and strategic issues such as Middle East peace, the economic partnership was also at the top of the agenda for Erdoğan's visit.

"Over the past four years, our trade has surged and U.S. exports to Turkey have more than doubled.  As the United States pursues a new trade and investment partnership with the EU, I want to make sure that we also keep deepening our economic ties with Turkey," Obama said, praising the development of the Turkish economy in recent years.

"The prime minister deserves much credit for some of the reforms that are already taking place," he said.
Erdoğan said there was a need to strengthen the economic relationship with free trade agreements and to increase the amount of trade. "Bilateral economic relations between Turkey and the United States have to be improved, and we both have this aim.  Ten years ago, our trade stood at $8 billion; at the moment, trade stands at $20 billion. But this amount is still not sufficient," Erdoğan said.

Close to 90 businesspeople are acommpanying Erdoğan during his US trip that includes a visit to the Silicon Valley in California.