Arab and Turkish trade ties bear more potential

[Quasar]

Trade and business relations between Turkey and the Arab world is below the desired level, says Turkish Minister Nihat Ergün. Conflicts and wars has costed trillions of loss for countries in the region, adds a top business representative.

Despite a recent acceleration in the last decade, trade and business ties between Turkey and Arab countries bear greater potential, according to the Turkish industry minister who said trade with Syria will improve when unrest settles.

“We should work to bring the [mutual trade] figure up to $100 billion in the next five years,” said Turkey’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün during his speech at the Turkish-Arab Industrialist Cooperation Conference in Istanbul.

Turkish-Arab trade volume has reached approximately $33 billion annually, Ergün said.

The improvement in relations between Turkey and Arab states was of great importance in terms of stability in the region, Ergün said, adding that parties may reach common regional goals thanks to stronger ties.

Countries in the Middle East, including Turkey, lost nearly $12 trillion due to chronic conflicts, clashes and wars in the region in the last 20 years, according to Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, head of the Turkish Union of Chambers Commodities Exchanges (TOBB).

“If we could promote entrepreneurship in our countries, improve democracy, then the people shouting in Tahrir Square, Tunisia and Libya would calm down,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said during the Istanbul event. These great losses could rather be used in developing infrastructure, education and employment in Muslim countries, he said.

Turkey attracted nearly $7 billion in Arab investments between 2002 and 2010 and “this should not be considered enough,” said Hisarcıklıoğlu. “The investment by Arabs is still not at a desirable level yet.” The total number of Arab tourists visiting Turkey increased to 2 million last year from 348,000 in 2000, he said.

Turkey’s trade with Syria

Once the unrest in Syria settles, trade relations with the neighboring country will improve again, Ergün told journalists. “Commercial relations between Turkey and Syria might have slowed recently, but once the situation in Syria becomes stable, the trade relations would move forward,” Ergün said.

Turkey has recently experienced interruption in its trade and business bonds with Libya during the unrest, he said, and “now things are getting better.”

Ergün said the government was considering opening new border gates on Turkey’s Iraqi border and launching new sea routes to transport goods to the Middle East.

Despite the minister’s optimistic attitude, increasing tension in the region hinders problems for some energy projects. The Arab Natural Gas Pipeline Project would be kept out of the political tension in Syria and the preparations would continue, said Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yıldız in an interview yesterday.

“This is a project that would benefit the whole region. We may send natural gas to Syria and Lebanon through Turkey,” Yıldız said of the project involving Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. “Energy issues are not part of the sanctions against Syria.”

Businesswomen Council

Meanwhile, the Istanbul conference decided to establish a Turkish-Arab Businesswomen Council. Ergün said an agreement was to be signed in Istanbul at the end of January to officially launch the council.
A group of Turkish businesswomen are scheduled to travel to Kuwait on Feb. 25 to attend the first meeting of the council.
December/06/2011


MACRO - Arab and Turkish trade ties bear more potential

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EU express ‘sadness’ over Turkey’s decision

EU foreign ministers have expressed “sadness” at Turkey’s threat to freeze relations during Greek Cyprus’ upcoming term presidency.

Foreign ministers from the bloc debated the matter at a Dec. 5 meeting that came ahead of an EU summit scheduled to take place from tomorrow until Dec. 9 in Brussels.

The Greek Cypriot delegation reportedly put pressure on member states to issue a strong reaction to Turkey’s threat to freeze relations during Greek Cyprus’ term presidency, which will begin in June 2012.
Ministers, however, only decided to express “sadness” at Turkey’s earlier statements.

Greek Cyprus’ decision last month to veto the Turkish foreign minister’s participation in a bloc-wide meeting on Syria has weakened the country’s diplomacy, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
The sources also said the EU did not want to further antagonize Ankara by endorsing strong wording in an EU statement that will be released following a summit of the union’s heads of state slated for June 2012.

In their decision, the EU foreign ministers said they felt sadness over Turkey’s failure to fulfill obligations stemming from its EU accession process, including opening ports to Greek Cypriot shipping, Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

The foreign ministers said Turkey had not made any progress in normalizing relations with Greek Cyprus and that they expected progress in the matter without further delays.

The ministers also told the EU Commission to observe Turkey’s approach to the Greek Cypriots and inform the member states on developments. The foreign ministers’ decision also said they expected Turkey’s active contributions to a solution in Cyprus under the auspices of the United Nations.

France’s insistence on word ‘accession’

The word “accession” was used 11 times in preparation for Croatia’s membership in mid-2013, five times for Iceland who began entry negotiations a year ago, twice for Montenegro, which is waiting for a date from the EU, and once for Albania and Serbia, who are not yet candidates in the enlargement decisions of the foreign ministers.

The word “accession,” however, was not used for Turkey as France has reportedly made special efforts to ensure the word is not used when Turkey is mentioned in EU documents.
December/06/2011

EUROPE - EU express