Republic of Turkey Ministry of Economy

Turkey attaches great importance to the Asia-Pacific region which is home to one third of all global manufacturing activities. With the rising awareness of the shift in economic activity towards the region, Turkey put into implementation “the Strategy for Improving Trade and Economic Activities with the Asian-Pacific Countries” in 2005. Enhancing trade relations with the South Asian Economies is an important part of this strategy.

The total trade volume between Turkey and the South Asia region in 2004 was around USD 1,8 billion. This amount rose over USD 9,9 billion in 2011, marking a 460% increase over the period.

Along with the volume of trade with the region, the share of Asia-Pacific region countries in Turkey’s total foreign trade rose as well. This share increased to 2,6% in 2010 from 1,1% in 2004.

Increasing commercial relations with the region has been associated with significant trade deficit figures for Turkey. The total trade deficit arising from trade with South Asia countries for 2011 was around USD 7 billion and constitutes around 6,6% of Turkey’s overall foreign trade deficit.

News

Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan urged Turkish and Indian businesspeople to take advantage of global cooperation and seek mutual investments at the Turkey-India Trade and Investment Forum in İstanbul on 14 October 2011

Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan stated that Turkey and India are two countries that complement each other and suggested that in order to improve commercial relations, the countries should sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), at the Forum.
"Another way of improving our commercial ties is to sign an FTA as soon as possible," Caglayan said, speaking at the forum, after encouraging businesspeople from the two countries on investment.
Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari and his accompanying delegation of businessmen attended the forum, where further opportunities for economic cooperation between the two countries were discussed.

Source: Dunya