30 percent of Turkey’s exports go to neighbors
Turkey’s foreign trade with its neighbors has increased tenfold in the last four-and-a-half years, now constituting 30 percent of Turkey’s total trade, State Minister for Foreign Trade Kürşad Tüzmen said.
Turkey’s neighboring countries were once perceived as “enemies,” but since the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002, relations have improved considerably in every sense, he added. During his visits to the southern city of Mersin, where he is a parliamentary deputy candidate for the upcoming elections, Tüzmen talked with the Anatolia news agency. He said Turkey had “very bad relations” with its neighbors in the past, resulting in too little trade volume. However, his government had converted the enmity into opportunity through shuttle diplomacy. Turkey’s trade with Bulgaria was $300 million in 2002, but now stands at $3 billion; it was $180 million with Greece but rose to $2 billion, and trade with Romania has exceeded $5 billion. In addition, the volume of trade has surpassed $25 billion with Russia, $7.7 billion with Iran and $3 billion with Iraq, despite its war-torn economy.
source. Today’s Zaman