Both sides losing in Turkey-Russia dispute
Posted by meb at September 2nd, 2008
Due to a new Russian policy, Turkish trucks are forming long queues at Russian borders as average customs proceedings for Turkish trucks take 20 to 40 days.
Turkey is now on the verge of losing long-standing, balanced commercial relations with its top trade partner. The predicted total loss to Turkish firms as a result is about $1 billion so far and, should the problems continue, this number may exceed $3 billion by the end of the year. On the other hand, Russia claims to have lost $26 billion due to contraband passing their borders.
The Cihan news agency yesterday quoted Vladimir Zubkov, press spokesperson for the Russian Federal Customs Service, as saying that the Russia is not singling out Turkish goods, as similar customs regulations apply to other countries, too. “We have problems mostly with Turkish goods at our customs points, but Turkey should not be held responsible for this. We just want to control our borders firmly and record the goods that pass our customs points from now on,” Zubkov said.
Harun Bolel, general manager of Colin’s, an important Turkish textile company with 80 stores operating in Russia, said Russia’s policy on Turkish goods was unfair and entirely political. “We are asked to produce papers that never existed before at Russian customs. We believe that this was all planned by the Russian state beforehand,” he said. He stressed that both countries should focus on solving this problem through diplomacy as soon as possible.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev recently instructed that custom proceedings be tightened so that contraband from abroad, especially from China and Turkey, can be prevented from entering the country. The media in Russian misunderstood the developments and claimed that this was a result of the recent conflict in Georgia. However, Turkey does not have the luxury of imposing sanctions against Russia since it is dependant on Russian energy sources to a great extent.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has expressed optimism about the situation. In a press conference on Tuesday in İstanbul with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Babacan said trade problems with Russia would be solved. He stressed that he believed trade problems between Turkey and Russia would be overcome with flexibility and the cooperation of Russia. “We discussed in a sincere and constructive way the problems caused by keeping and checking Turkish products at Russian customs gates longer than usual,” Babacan explained. Lavrov said Russia was not discriminating against Turkey in trade relations between the countries. He added that Russian customs authorities were working to simplify their bilateral customs system.
source: Today’s Zaman
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