India Turkey Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Ready

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India Turkey Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Ready

Commerce minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday announced setting up of a panel that will explore the possibility of a duty-free trade agreement between India and Turkey.

The announcement was made by Sharma at Ankara, where he was attending a meeting of India-Turkey Joint Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (JCETC).

The panel, known as the Joint Study Group (JSG), will comprise of trade diplomats and academicians, who will explore various aspects of bilateral trade in goods & services, investment prospects and the possibility of entering in to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The intention to set up the JSG was first declared during the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to India in November 2008.

Addressing the JCETC meeting, Sharma said that India and Turkey can enter into a strategic partnership, which will help both the countries cooperate in getting in roads in to other third world nations in areas like trade, projects and investments. He further added that both countries identified many new areas of cooperation such as contracting and consultancy, tourism, science and technology, energy, transportation and leather.

India has recently signed a FTA with the south Asian economic bloc Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as well as South Korea. It is in the process of negotiating more than a dozen free trade pacts with countries like Japan and economic blocs like European Union.

India’s exports to Turkey in 2008-09 stood at $ 1.38 billion, which is an annual dip of 21%. Imports from Turkey to India in the same year stood at $ 1.44 billion, an annual contraction of 14.5 %. The decline in bilateral trade has occurred in the backdrop of the global economic crisis, as a result of which world trade has shrunk.

Key items exported by India to Turkey include cotton and man-made yarn, machinery, drugs & pharmaceuticals, transport equipment as well as chemicals and fine chemicals. Major imports from Turkey comprise machinery, iron and steel, ores and metal scrap as well as inorganic and organic chemicals.

Indian companies like GMR, Polyplex, Dhanus Technologies, Indian Oil, Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra and CRI Pumps have made large investments in Turkey.

From:Panel to look into India-Turkey FTA

 

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Turkey India FTA on cards

Turkey is eager to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India in order to improve bilateral relations further among the two countries, said State Minister, Mr. Mehmet Aydin. The country is interested to co-operate in contracting, energy and housing industry, he added.

He revealed this during signature ceremony of the protocol of Economic and Technical Co-operation Joint Committee meeting, signed between Turkey and India at the Foreign Trade Under-Secretariat. Trade relations among the two countries are showing a considerable improvement in past five years.

The total trade volume in the year 2007 was US $2.6 billion, and a target has been set to raise it up to $5 billion by 2012 and to $10 billion by 2020, informed the Minister.

Several business communities in both the countries would enjoy a well-designed and smooth atmosphere for trade and economic relations, once the proposed FTA agreement is signed, he added by saying

In this regard, Mr. Anand Sharma, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, said that India wants to co-operate with Turkey in industries such as informatics, energy, textile and automotive. A joint working group should be created by two countries, he added.

There has been a year-on-year increase of 56 percent in Turkish exports to India which reached $543 million in the year 2008 against $348 million in 2007. Turkey mainly exports poppy seeds, marble and travertine, iron, steel and vehicles; while it imports man-made fibres, chemicals, automobiles and cotton.

From:Turkey : Turkey-India FTA on cards - General News Turkey

 

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India, Turkey Military Ties

Global terrorism and UN peacekeeping missions featured prominently during talks here Monday between the Indian Army chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor, and his visiting Turkish counterpart Gen. Mehmet Ilker Basbug.

'Both the chiefs shared a common platform on matters such as global terrorism and UN peacekeeping missions,' a defence ministry statement said. 'Both countries have pledged to improve military bilateral relations in terms of training at defence institutions,' the statement added.

This is the first time a Turkish army chief is visiting India. Earlier Monday, Basbug laid a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial to the Unknown Soldier at India Gate. He was then accorded a guard of honour on his arrival at the defence ministry headquarters at South Block. After his talks with Kapoor, Basbug met Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major.

The visiting chief also visited the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the National Defence College. India's interaction with Turkey in the defence sector was revived in March 1986 when the then Turkish prime minister visited India. The following year, the defence attache's office was re-opened in Ankara after a gap of 20 years.

Subsequently, India participated in IDEA, a defence exhibition at Ankara in May 1989. The Indian minister of state for defence visited Turkey in September 1993 at the invitation of the Turkish defence minister to attend the International Defence Industry and Civil Aviation Fair, 'which was a big step towards establishing close relations in the defence field between the two countries', the statement said.

From:India, Turkey Initiate Military Ties | India Defence

 

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Turkish Airlines starts daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Istanbul

Turkish Airlines, the national airline of Turkey and the country’s flagship carrier, began daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai in India to Istanbul in Turkey from February 2, 2009.


Earlier, the airline had been operating four weekly flights from Mumbai and three weekly flights from New Delhi to Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines, based in Istanbul, is a four-star airline company with a fleet of 127 aircraft flying to as many as 144 cities, including 109 international destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States.

Temel Kotil, president and chief executive of Turkish Airlines, told reporters in New Delhi that the carrier had successfully implemented its “bilateral rights” with India by enhancing its frequency by 14 flights every week from India to Turkey.

Kotil announced that Turkish Airlines had further plans for expansion in India by adding Hyderabad and Chennai as its new destinations, but these expansions would not take place before 2010.

Turkish Airlines has also replaced its earlier fleet Airbus A310 aircraft with Airbus A330 jets. While the Airbus A310 has 210-seat capacity, the Airbus A330 offers 250 seats, with independent entertainment screens, Temel Kotil said.

In addition to revamping the in-flight services, Turkish Airlines also guarantees its passengers “a restaurant above the clouds” with offerings of tastier Indian dishes on board these flights, Kotil told reporters.

He stressed that Turkish Airlines, which has its main base at Atatürk International Airport in Istanbul, had “enormous faith” in the potential of the Indian market and that the present economic downturn would not last for long.

Besides increasing the frequency of flights from India, Turkish Airlines has raised capacities and opened new routes to 11 international destinations recently. The carrier expects to add 21% in 2009 with an expected revenue growth of 25%, the airline’s CEO said.

Turkish Airlines, which at present has a fleet of 127 aircraft, has placed orders for 105 more planes to be delivered over the next 8 years.

From:Mumbai, Delhi to Istanbul flights from Turkish Airlines, India Turkey flight schedule | DWS Aviation

 

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Turkey, India seek nuclear energy ties

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, visiting New Delhi, voiced support Friday for energy cooperation between his country and India.

Turkey is close to oil and gas beds thanks to its unique location, and therefore it has an increasing role in world energy diplomacy, Babacan told members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the New Anatolian reported.

He said a proposed pipeline to Israel can be extended to India if the three countries can reach an agreement.

Separately, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Turkish Daily News through an e-mail interview that India would be willing to cooperate on nuclear energy.

We would be happy to cooperate with all like-minded countries in the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, he was quoted as saying.

A new Turkish law allows for the construction of nuclear power plants to meet the country's growing energy needs.

We in India are attaching great importance to increasing the share of nuclear energy in our overall energy mix. This is necessary for our development and for the fight against climate change, Mukherjee said.

Babacan's India visit is aimed at improving economic ties between the countries.

From:Turkey, India seek nuclear energy ties

 

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TURKEY INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

The increasing high-level exchanges between Turkey and India suggest that contemporary strategic convergences exist between the two nations. These could provide the building blocks for a future more substantial strategic partnership.

Turkey and India as regional powers and with rising aspirations naturally have a strategic stake in the peace and stability in their respective regional security environment and their extended neighborhoods. It is in a politically stable environment that both Turkey and India can move forward to attain their national aspirations.

It is in this context that natural strategic convergences should exist presently in the stability of Central Asia and the Middle East more specifically and importantly. Both Turkey and India favor the right of Israel to exist as a nation state, the resolution of the Palestinian problem and conflict resolution of all contentious issues and confrontation in the Gulf Region.

Turkey and India’s relationships with the main actors in West Asia place them in a unique position of being regional powers which can supplement the Middle East Quartet in conflict resolution in West Asia. Scope exists for coordination of peace efforts by Turkey and India on other contentious issues too in the region.

Terrorism as a political weapon by Islamic groups has proved to be scourge inflicting both Turkey and India. Terrorism threats to Turkey and India may arise from different political reasons, but the roots and manifestations to both can be said to arise from the same roots. Counter-terrorism and the war on global terror can also be stated as a contemporary strategic convergence between Turkey and India. In fact India can stand to learn more from Turkey in the exercise of political will to counter terrorist threats.

Maritime security is yet another field of strategic convergence which can be explored for contemporary cooperation.

The end of the Cold War and the strategic compulsions in the post Cold War era have erased away the strategic and political inhibitions which held back Turkey and India from moving towards a strategic partnership. Turbulence in their respective regions and extended neighborhoods have brought into focus the strategic imperative for regional powers like Turkey and India to contribute bilaterally and multi-laterally towards achievement of stability in these areas.

Turkey and India with a meaningful strategic partnership can contribute positively to the stability of the vast conflict-prone and terrorism-stricken expanses of Asia extending from Central Asia to West Asia and to the doorsteps of Europe and North Africa.

The foregoing analysis indicates that while a Turkey India Strategic Partnership is in the best strategic interests of both Turkey and India, the imperatives place a greater call on Turkey and India to move ahead in this direction.

From:Turkey – India Strategic Partnership: The Indian Imperatives

 

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Improveing TURKEY INDIA Relations

 

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