Türkiye to boost trade with D-8 countries through ‘next-generation agreement’: Turkish minister

ANKARA

Türkiye will boost its trade with the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) member states through a “next-generation agreement,” Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat told Anadolu.

Regarding the D-8 summit held in Cairo on Thursday, Bolat said that Türkiye seeks to “transform the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement into a next-generation agreement by expanding its product scope and disciplines.”

“The stages of cooperation in various fields, such as trade, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), agriculture and food security, youth projects, tourism, energy, civil aviation, and healthcare will be evaluated and the steps to be taken to further improve cooperation in these areas will be evaluated,” said Bolat.

Bolat stated that the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the D-8 member states is $4.8 trillion, making up 4.3% of the total production worldwide, while the combined population of the member states is 1.2 billion, which translates to a domestic income of around $4,000 per capita, citing data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The minister mentioned that the total exports and imports of the D-8 member states amounted to $1.12 trillion and $1.17 trillion, respectively.

“Intra-D-8 exports among member states reached $75.5 billion and imports totaled $77.7 billion in 2023, pointing to a great potential, while Türkiye’s exports to D-8 countries amounted to $9.1 billion and imports $13.1 billion last year, which means the trade volume rose 22.6% in the last five years, while the share of D-8 products in Türkiye’s exports and imports is at 3.6%,” Bolat said.

He said that Türkiye has been very vocal on its sensitivity on the Palestinian issue on every platform and the country has invited Islamic countries to act jointly on the issue, and the sentiment will be shown at the bilateral meetings of the D-8 summit, especially under a special session detailing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Lebanon.

“We expect the developments in Syria to be on the agenda both in this summit and the bilateral meetings to be held by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as Türkiye will continue to strive toward ending the humanitarian crisis in the region and establish peace and prosperity, taking a leading role for the international community to take steps towards this goal,” he added.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim in Istanbul