Turkey wants to upgrade trade ties with US: Top businessman

NEW YORK

The US-Europe free trade deal, which is currently being thrashed out, is a source of worry for the Turkish business community. AA Photo

Turkey wants to take its trade relations with the United States to a new level, the head of the country’s top business group said, speaking at a meeting in New York on the sidelines of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s trip to the city for the United Nations meetings.

“Including Turkey in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [a free trade agreement between the European Union and the U.S.], or a free trade deal being signed between Turkey and the U.S., would be a concrete step to upgrading relations,” Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the head of Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) said on Sept. 25, speaking at a meeting that was jointly organized by his organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Investments Promotion Agency.

EU member candidate Turkey is concerned that it would be negatively affected in trade and business if it is excluded from the U.S.-Europe trade deal that is currently being negotiated.

“I invite you to do more trade with Turkey and increase investments,” Hisarcıklıoğlu called on his U.S. counterparts, stressing that the country’s 2023 economic targets offered investors a wide field of cooperation.

The TOBB chairman said there were many opportunities for deeper cooperation and investment deals to be struck with Turkey, a country that also offers a gateway to a broader region.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola’s Turkish chairman Muhtar Kent said at the same meeting that new entrepreneurs were taking the country to new levels in the technology, engineering, construction, agriculture and commercial goods sectors, alongside its traditional stronghold of textiles.