A senior Turkish business official on Saturday known as for a swift answer to the European Union visa concern, which has triggered public outcry and prompted Ankara to vow countermeasures.
Turkish nationals have been complaining of prolonged processing instances and a rising variety of EU visa rejections since final yr, in a row that annoyed Ankara, which known as the efforts “deliberate.”
The concern has reached “serious dimensions” for the Turkish businesspeople and merchants, mentioned Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chair of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB).
“The visa issue has recently reached serious dimensions for the business world, and transport quotas have also negatively affected bilateral trade,” Hisarcıklıoğlu informed an occasion within the Aegean province of Izmir.
“We need to find an urgent solution to the issues of visa and transport quotas.”
Turkish officers have known as for a swift answer, decrease charges, permits for multi-visa entries and “fairer” analysis requirements for folks like academicians and businesspeople by way of financial and academic actions.
Türkiye and the bloc take pleasure in good commerce ties and a long time of migration, nevertheless, relations are strained over a number of points, together with the extended means of modernization and enlargement of the scope of the present customs union settlement and EU insurance policies on refugees from Syria.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Schengen states obtained greater than 900,000 visa functions yearly from Türkiye, however that determine dropped to round 270,000 in 2021.
Citizens from all Schengen nations are exempt from visas when visiting Türkiye, most for as much as 90 days, and a few can enter with solely their ID playing cards, in response to Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry web site.
Hisarcıklıoğlu mentioned they all the time think about relations with the EU as a precedence.
He confused that the customs union deal, a modernization of which might comprehensively shake up financial relations between the perimeters, has been a very powerful software for the transformation of Türkiye’s manufacturing capability.
The host of disagreements between Ankara and Brussels over latest years has been stalling the negotiations for the replace of the settlement. A deeper Nineties-era commerce settlement can be expanded to providers, farm items and public procurement.
The modernization would carry Türkiye totally into the inner market of the world’s largest buying and selling bloc, permitting virtually all items and providers to stream unhindered.
“The accession negotiations have further expanded and deepened Türkiye’s transformation process. The accession process has stalled in recent years. As the Turkish business world, we are not happy about this situation. If we take into account the current problems that our countries are facing, the need to revive relations is obvious,” Hisarcıklıoğlu mentioned.
Bilateral commerce surged fourfold within the final quarter century, he famous, stating that the change of products between Türkiye and the EU reached about $196 billion as of 2022.
“Companies support the updating of the customs union. The European Union’s enterprises also support the cooperation between the EU and Türkiye on the Green Deal and the single digital market. There is a very favorable environment for Türkiye and the EU to further advance their economic relations,” Hisarcıklıoğlu famous.
Türkiye is the one non-EU nation with a customs union settlement with the bloc. The deal was struck in 1995. In its Dec. 21, 2016 evaluation, the European Commission proposed revamping the deal.
The present customs union settlement solely covers a restricted vary of commercial merchandise and excludes agriculture, public procurement, e-commerce and providers.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
