Türkiye aims to boost trade with Russia to $100 billion

ANKARA

Türkiye and Russia are working closely to boost the bilateral trade volume to $100 billion, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has said.

Bolat met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Nov. 25 in Ankara, where the 18th meeting of the joint intergovernmental Russian-Turkish Commission on trade and economic cooperation was held.

The two countries signed a protocol to deepen trade relations.

“The protocol, which is a road map determining the route that Türkiye and Russia economic relations will follow in the coming years in the fields of trade, customs, energy, agriculture, industry, transportation, tourism and contracting, will take our bilateral relations to a further level,” said Bolat.

The Turkish minister noted that the trade volume between the two countries climbed from $33 billion in 2013 to $68 billion at the end of 2022.

Intense efforts are being made to strengthen trade between the two countries in a balanced and sustainable framework and to reach the target of $100 billion bilateral trade volume set out by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bolat said.

Türkiye and Russia have made big progress particularly in the fields of tourism and energy, he stressed.

“We will have hosted more than 6 million Russian tourist by the end of this year,” Bolat added.

According to the latest data from the Turkish Tourism Ministry, Russians constituted the largest group of foreign visitors in January-October.

In the first 10 months of 2023, 5.8 million Russians visited Türkiye, up from 4.6 million in the same period of last year.

Investment and contracting relations are as important as trade and tourism in bilateral economic relations with Russia, Bolat said, noting that Turkish investments in Russia amounted to $3 billion, while to date Turkish contractors have assumed more than 2,100 projects in Russia worth $98 billion.

“We will continue to develop joint projects in the fields of natural gas, nuclear and petroleum products,” the minister added.

Russia is building Türkiye’s first nuclear power plant in the southern province of Mersin.

Meanwhile, following the meeting in Ankara, Novak said in an interview with Rossiya-24 that a roadmap on Russia’s participation in the gas hub in Türkiye is currently being negotiated, and concrete agreements may be achieved shortly.

“A Turkish delegation plans to come to St. Petersburg to examine Gazprom’s developments in this area, and I am certain that agreements on practical implementation of this project will be achieved in the nearest future," Novak said.

Cumulatively, industry emits 37 percent of total Turkish GHG emissions, accelerating their decarbonization is critical for Türkiye to meet its carbon neutrality commitment by 2053, according to EBRD.

The findings of the LCP study will provide clear signals to private industry players, financiers and investors about the technology requirements and timing of decarbonization investments, enabling greater understanding of the risks involved and informing the development of specific financing plans, the banks said in a statement.

In 2022, the Industry and Technology Ministry proposed a detailed study, led by the EBRD, to assess the technology solutions, the investment needs and the policy enablers to help the sectors in question decarbonize in line with Türkiye’s climate ambitions.

The study estimates that the decarbonization of these sectors will require investments in the region of more than $50 billion and will result in cumulative GHG emission savings of more than 135MtCO2 compared to a business-as-usual scenario by 2053.

“We are very pleased to be cooperating with the EBRD and look forward to establishing effective mechanisms to provide the finance needed to accelerate investments to support the low-carbon development of Turkish industry,” said Kacır.

Türkiye is one of their biggest countries of operation and they are keen to continue supporting industrial companies on their journey towards carbon neutrality, said Renaud-Basso.

To date, the EBRD has invested more than 19 billion euros in the Turkish economy, largely in the private sector.