Türkiye, UK launch talks to update free trade agreement

ANKARA

Türkiye and the U.K. have launched talks to update the free trade agreement, the Turkish Trade Ministry has said.

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat met with his U.K. counterpart, Kemi Badenoch, in London on March 14 to discuss bilateral issues, and they decided to begin new trade talks, the ministry said in a statement on social media platform X.

The bilateral trade volume reached around $19 billion in 2023, the ministry said, noting that the U.K. is Türkiye’s fourth largest export market.

There are huge opportunities as Türkiye has one of the fastest growing economies in the OECD and is home to 85 million people, Badenoch's office said in a statement.

“I’m delighted to be launching trade negotiations with Türkiye – an important economic and strategic partner to the U.K.,” Badenoch said.

“We already have a thriving trade relationship that will only get stronger with a new, modernized trade deal that is fit for the 21st century,” she added.

The new trade deal will replace our current one, which was largely negotiated in the 1990s, the statement said, noting that it will focus on the U.K.’s strengths in services, which make up 80 percent of GDP.

In 2020, 57,000 U.K. jobs were supported by exports to Türkiye, 68 percent of which were in services, according to the statement.

Türkiye presents significant opportunities for British businesses, particularly in transport, engineering, financial services, manufacturing and tech, driven in part by the country's decarbonization efforts and significant investment in rail, the statement said.

The first round of negotiations is due to take place in the summer, according to the statement.

The U.K. has been seeking to sign trade deals ever since leaving the European Union in January 2021.