Turkish trade minister calls for developing Customs Union with EU

ISTANBUL

Meeting in Brussels with Paolo Gentiloni, the European commissioner for the economy, the Turkish trade minister called for developing the Customs Union to respond to current global necessities and cover all areas of bilateral trade between the EU and Türkiye.

"Thanks to the economic integration achieved through the Customs Union, our bilateral trade volume with the EU reached an all-time high of approximately 200 billion dollars in 2022," Omer Bolat wrote on X.

Türkiye will continue its efforts to further enhance trade and economic cooperation with the EU, the country’s largest trading partner, through mutual steps, he added.

Also taking part in an event called Bruegel Dialogues, Bolate shared Türkiye's perspective on the present and future of its economic integration journey with the EU, which began over half a century ago.

Türkiye has long pressed for an update to its Customs Union with the EU, which began in 1995, arguing that it misses crucial areas such as the trade in services and that an update would clearly benefit both sides.