Turkey Initiated Free Trade Deal With UK

To avoid any types of trade disruptions, Turkey and the United Kingdom have undergone a free trade deal that will come into the effect this Friday, Jan. 1.

"This is a true day for Turkish-UK relations," Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan told in a speech to the virtual signing ceremony based in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The milestone agreement is expected to boost trade between Turkey and the UK in the coming future. Ruhsar Pekcan further explained that it will play a crucial role in eliminating vulnerability in the trade structure between these two nations.

“We are executing this initial step towards further boosting our ties while maintaining 25-year achievements from the Customs Union”. Said Pekcan while citing Turkey's 1995 Customs Union with the EU, which Britain is parting its ways from this week. She added, “With the new executed arrangement, Turkey and the UK are pleased to meet business people's expectations and to keep our promises.”

Lacking an arrangement, around 75% of Turkish exports to the UK are supposed to be endangered to tariffs, leading to losses of around $2.4 billion, but this has been put to an end by this historical deal, said Pekcan.

She added, “We have undergone a tariff-free agreement, as it was planned, which involves all industrial and agricultural goods”.

Pekcan stated that the trade volume between the two nations was up to $15.1 billion in January-November while in 2019, the exports from Turkey to the UK which is the second-largest export market was up to $11.3 billion. The imports were reported at $5.6 billion.

She said that the investments of the UK in Turkey are approximately $11.6 billion. Further added, “I expect that this arrangement will have positive impacts in bilateral investments”.

She said that Turkey is willing to establish agreements in the areas, for example, investments and services. “We will discuss how we can enhance the situations for entering the agricultural market as well”.

More Aspiring Business Arrangements Are Waiting To Be Introduced

For her role to play, British Trade Minister Liz Truss explained that the agreement sets down the foundation for a more aspiring UK- Turkey trade relationship in the coming days.

She explained, “The agreement is a peace of our strategy to place the UK at the center of a network of modern agreements with dynamic economies”. She added that there is a more noteworthy trade scope in the industries of finance and biotechnology.

"In this sense, I believe that as two trading countries, from products, vehicles to other sectors, we can gain great momentum in the field of services and technology trade much faster."

She explained that Britons will have the option to purchase high-quality products, including white goods that have been manufactured in Turkey.

"Apart from this, it will also make a great contribution to the consumers to buy decent products at decent prices in agricultural products."

Truss explained that over the most recent two years, in the countdown to Brexit, the UK got success in initiating agreements with 62 countries and the European Union for covering £885 billion of UK trade.

"We are not only accelerating trade but also aiming to grow. Today we open a new page in the cooperation between Turkey and the UK."

In the declaration following the signing, the UK government explained that the arrangement covers trade worth over £18 billion ($24.3 billion).

It said, “Both countries have also committed to working towards a more ambitious free trade agreement in the future, which will go further than the current deal”.

Essential UK-Turkey supply chains will also be ensured for automotive manufacturers, such as Ford, which employs 7,500 people in the UK.

Additionally remarking on the arrangement, Stuart Rowley, the president of Ford of Europe, explained that:

"Ford welcomes the announcement today of a trade agreement between the two countries, and the speed with which it has been concluded underscores its importance to the economic prosperity of both countries.

"Given that Ford and [Ford-Turkish Koc Holding co-owned] Ford Otosan business constitutes more than 10% of the total trade volume between the UK and Turkey, this trade agreement is extremely significant for us and will help to secure jobs in both countries."

Andy Burwell, director for international trade and investment at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also marked the memorable settlement that will support important supply chains across several industries following pandemic outbreak interruption.

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