Turkish, Saudi ministers discuss bilateral trade

ANKARA

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat discussed bilateral trade with his Saudi counterpart, Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi., in Jaipur, India, on the sidelines of a meeting of trade ministers of G20 nations, according to a statement from the Turkish Trade Ministry.

“We assessed the concrete steps to be taken in the fields of bilateral trade, the contracting services sector and cooperation opportunities under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, which were discussed during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month,” the statement quoted Bolat as saying.

At the meeting, problems related to Türkiye’s red meat, white meat and aquaculture product exports to Saudi Arabia were resolved, he said.

“We believe we can further develop our trade relations in line with high-level cooperation.”

Erdoğan embarked on a tour of Gulf states in July, which covered Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The primary focus of Erdoğan’s Gulf tour was to attract investments.

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

Bolat held several other bilateral talks at the G20 summit.

He met with French Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht. The two discussed bilateral trade as well as the updating of the customs union between Türkiye and the EU.

Bolat also discussed ties with the bloc in a meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission vice president and trade commissioner.

On the margins of the summits, Bolat held talks with UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Omani Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion Minister Qais Mohammed Al Yousef and U.S.Trade Representative Katherine Tai and World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.