Minister Bolat, who is currently in Washington to enhance bilateral trade and economic relations with the United States, responded to questions from an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent regarding his high-level meetings.
Bolat stated that the meeting held at the end of September between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump marked a significant turning point in bilateral relations, accelerating cooperation between Turkey and the U.S. on political ties and regional crisis resolution.
Recalling that both leaders had previously set the goal of raising bilateral trade to USD 100 billion, Bolat emphasized: “As trade ministers, it is our duty to operationalize this target and define the roadmap to achieve it.”
“Technical-level discussions will be conducted between the two countries’ delegations”
Bolat reported that, as part of his Washington engagements, he first held an extensive meeting lasting approximately 1.5 hours with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and his delegation. He then participated in a working session hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with top executives from around 20 major American companiesmany of which already have investments in Turkey. Finally, he held a comprehensive discussion with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Bolat described the talks as highly productive, noting: “Technical-level discussions on key topics will now be pursued by the two countries’ delegations. Building on last year’s USD 34 billion and this year’s anticipated USD 38 billion in bilateral trade, we will continue efforts to comfortably surpass USD 40 billion next year, reach the USD 50 billion range in the near term, and ultimately achieve the USD 100 billion target in the medium to long term.”
He added that the discussions also covered trade-related rules and regulations, steps and expectations for attracting more U.S. investment to Turkey, and recalled that over 2,000 American companies currently operate in Turkey, with cumulative investments exceeding USD 15.5 billion.
“We presented Turkey’s growth outlook”
Highlighting growing investment and cooperation in recent years between Turkey and the U.S. in digital services, energy, aviation, and defense industries, Bolat noted that enhancing Turkey’s exports to the U.S. was also on the agenda.
He observed that U.S. companies’ interest in Turkey was “significantly stronger than anticipated,” recalling the “highly positive atmosphere” during roundtable meetings with American executives held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Bolat remarked: “For the past three years, I have accompanied President Erdoğan during his September visits to New York for the UN meetings. This year, I witnessed the most favorable investment climate yet. Existing investors are actively presenting plans to expand and scale up operations, while new firms are expressing interest in following suit.”
He cited Google’s joint USD 3 billion investment plan with Turkcell as a concrete example, and noted that similar initiatives are being pursued by other companies.
Bolat continued: “We highlighted Turkey’s strong economic growth trajectory: national income has increased sixfold over the past 22 years, per capita income (in USD terms) has quintupled, export-led growth has significantly strengthened the economy, and merchandise and services exports have risen on average 7.6-fold over the same period. We also emphasized the effectiveness of our investment incentive schemes.”
“We serve both domestic firms and international investors”
Bolat noted that he informed his interlocutors that Turkey has received USD 280 billion in direct foreign investment over the past 22 years, with foreign direct investment reaching USD 11.4 billion in the first nine months of this year alone—a 45% year-on-year increase.
He added: “Time is moving quickly—we advised investors not to delay. We reaffirmed that we stand ready to assist both local firms and international investors in addressing any challenges they may encounter. We stressed that Turkey’s legal and regulatory framework ensures no discrimination whatsoever. We underscored our strong encouragement of international investment to support Turkey’s economic growth, development, and improvements in public welfare and income levels.”
Bolat drew attention to significant cooperation opportunities across energy, air transport, defense, renewable energy, digital services, and traditional sectors, concluding: “Turkey is an exceptionally important, attractive, and promising destination for investment. We firmly believe that increased investment will substantially benefit Turkey’s economy, its citizens’ prosperity, and employment.”
Comments
No comment yet.