Türkiye’s bilateral commerce quantity with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) international locations has surged from $2.1 billion (TL 59.90 billion) in 2002 to $22.7 billion up to now 20 years, thus growing almost 11-fold, a senior official mentioned Sunday.
Attending the GCC-Türkiye Economic Forum held in Istanbul, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat mentioned: “When we look at the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, our bilateral trade volume has increased from $2.1 billion to $22.7 billion in the last 20 years, from 2002 to 2022. There is an 11-fold increase in our trade.”
“In this context, our exports to the GCC countries have soared from $1.2 billion to $9.5 billion,” Bolat mentioned, including that the imports have reached $13.3 billion, up from beneath $1 billion 20 years in the past.
Ministers of the international locations throughout the GCC, deputy ministers and quite a few bureaucrats attended the opening ceremony of the occasion, the place representatives of corporations working in agriculture, meals, infrastructure, transportation, logistics, tourism, finance, funding, trade and vitality sectors of participant international locations have been additionally current.
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also referred to as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional, intergovernmental, political and financial union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Elaborating on Türkiye’s financial enlargement in recent times, Bolat mentioned the nation’s financial system grew by 5.5% final yr and 11.4% the yr earlier than.
“This year, there is a possibility of showing growth of 4% and above,” he mentioned.
“Our national income, which was $808 billion in 2021, $906 billion in 2022, is expected to exceed $1 trillion at the end of this year,” he mentioned including that export has performed a vital position on this progress.
“Türkiye’s goods exports increased by 7.5 times between 2002 and 2022, rising from $36 billion to $254 billion. This figure was the highest in the republic’s history,” he mentioned, recalling that exports remained on the upward observe, reaching a $210 billion determine within the first 10 months of this yr, based on the official information.
Describing the Gulf area as “one of Türkiye’s largest partners,” Bolat additional defined that mutual investments and commerce between Türkiye and the Gulf Cooperation Council international locations are considerably growing in particular areas akin to vitality, commerce, business and funding.
“Today, Türkiye’s trade volume with Arab countries has increased significantly. In 2022, our exports to Arab countries reached $46 billion, import $36 billion while the share of Arab countries in our total exports stood at around 18%, and their share in our imports was around 10%,” the minister mentioned.
Bolat additionally shared the figures of Türkiye’s commerce with the 57 international locations of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “In 2002, Türkiye’s total exports to the 57 countries of the OIC were only $4.7 billion. In 2022, this figure has reached $65 billion,” he mentioned.
“Hopefully, we will be able to announce much higher figures at the end of 2023.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
