Türkiye, EU hold first round of high-level trade dialogue

BRUSSELS

Türkiye and the European Union have held talks for the first round of high-level trade dialogue to discuss visa, bilateral trade and customs union issues.

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, accompanied by a Turkish delegation, and EU Commission Vice Chairman Valdis Dombrovskis, with commission officials, took part in the talks in Brussels on Monday.

“We meet with representatives of the EU and Turkish business communities in a roundtable meeting in the morning, and intergovernmental meetings will be held in the afternoon,” Bolat wrote on X.

The EU is Türkiye’s largest trading partner and export market.

Last year, more than 40 percent of Türkiye’s exports went to the bloc, amounting to $104 billion, while the EU’s share in the country’s exports was $53 billion or 42.3 percent in the first half of 2024.

“At the meeting, we evaluated the functioning of the customs union, the current situation in bilateral trade, and the expectations and suggestions of the business world, especially the modernization of the Customs Union, in order to further develop economic relations,” Bolat said.

“We will continue our work with determination to further deepen our commercial and economic relations with the EU, our most important trade partner, and to expand and strengthen them in different areas,” the minister added.

The high-level trade dialogue between Türkiye and the EU was among the recommendations in the joint declaration on the current state of Türkiye-EU political, trade, and economic relations in November 2023, and it was decided that the first meeting under this mechanism would be held in July.