Mon. Oct 7th, 2024

EU and Türkiye hold their first High-Level Dialogue on trade

Jul 9, 2024 , , , ,

Brussels, 8 July 2024

Today, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and his counterpart Turkish Minister for Trade Ömer Bolat hold in Brussels the first EU-Türkiye High-Level Dialogue on Trade.

In line with the Joint Communication on EU-Türkiye relations from November 2023 and European Council conclusions, the new High-Level Dialogue on Trade aims to tackle the remaining bilateral trade irritants and discuss further areas of cooperation, notably ways to prevent the circumvention of EU sanctions. A business roundtable is also being held in order to exchange views with stakeholders on issues related to trade and the Customs Union.

After the removal by Türkiye of 11 trade barriers (out of 26) since early 2021, and further to the work in the dedicated bilateral trade working group, the two sides will discuss ways to remove additional priority barriers. The discussion on cooperation will focus on topics such as the green transition, digital trade and trade defence.

The EU and Türkiye will discuss cooperation to prevent the re-export of ‘Common High Priority‘ items to Russia, in light of the current geopolitical context.

The meeting of the High-Level Dialogue on Trade is an important milestone towards addressing the current difficulties in the implementation of the Customs Union, ensuring its effective application to all Member States and paving the way towards its modernisation.

 

Joint Statement by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis and Minister of Trade Bolat at the EU-Türkiye High-Level Dialogue on Trade

Brussels, 8 July 2024

Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and the Minister of Trade of Türkiye Ömer Bolat met today in Brussels for the first meeting of a High-Level Dialogue on Trade. The EU and Türkiye, a candidate country and major trade partner, have bilateral trade flows that have grown constantly over the years reaching €206 billion in 2023.

Against the background of the EU’s Joint Communication to the European Council on EU-Türkiye political, economic and trade relations (29 November 2023) and the European Council conclusions on Türkiye, the High-level Dialogue on Trade gave political steer to the work on addressing the remaining bilateral trade irritants and allowed for a discussion on several areas of cooperation that would strengthen the functioning of the Customs Union.

The High-Level Dialogue was preceded by the EU-Türkiye Business Roundtable where representatives of major Turkish and EU business associations discussed current state of play in implementing our Customs Union and perspectives for enhancing Türkiye-EU trade and economic relations.

On trade barriers, after the resolution by Türkiye of a significant number of trade barriers raised by the EU, further to the work in the dedicated bilateral trade working group co-chaired by Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand and Deputy Trade Minister of Türkiye Mustafa Tuzcu, the two sides discussed ways to resolve additional priority barriers.

The parties also discussed key areas of cooperation that have bearing on the Customs Union, such as the green transition, notably CBAM, digital trade and trade defence. Particularly, in this context, Türkiye and EU discussed business mobility and the road transport quotas applied by EU Member States to Turkish hauliers.

The EU and Türkiye also exchanged their views for collaboration on the prevention of the circumvention of EU sanctions via the Customs Union.

The parties agreed to pursue work through engagement on the issues mutually identified.

The meeting of the High-Level Dialogue on Trade is an important milestone in addressing the current obstacles with regard to the Customs Union and towards its modernisation.

Source – EU Commission

 

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