ANKARA

Turkey's import and export trade with Germany increased by 80 percent reaching US$38 billion in the last ten years.

According to Turkish Statistics Institute, TurkStat, Germany has been the largest export destination for Turkish goods since 2004, while it has been in the top three import destinations for Turkey.

Turkey has increased its exports to Germany by 60 percent to US$13.7 billion in 2013 from US$8.7 billion in 2004.

Meanwhile, Turkey has increased its imports from Germany to US$24.1 billion in 2013 from US$2.5 billion in 2004.

Turkish officials says that among international visitors that chose Turkey as a holiday destination, German citizens ranked at the top of the list with 5,041,323 visitors.

Machinery, electrical goods, motor vehicles and supply parts for the automobile industry account for a particularly large portion of German exports to Turkey.

Textiles/leather goods and food, and increasingly motor vehicles and electronic goods, are the principal German imports from Turkey

Turkey’s machinery exports to Germany, the country with the strongest machinery and equipment industry in Europe, rose by 5.6 percent to $2.16 billion in 2013 from $2.05 billion in 2012 according to data from Turkey's Machinery and Accessories Exporters Union (MAIB).

"Germany is a market where quality products fiercely compete. Thus, having increased our machinery exports to this country is a key development," said Adnan Dalgakiran, MAIB’s executive board chairman.

With an estimated number of at least 3 million Turks in Germany. Today, Turks are Germany's largest ethnic minority and form most of Germany's Muslim minority.

Germany suffered an acute labor shortage after WWII and, in 1961, Germany (that time was west Germany) officially invited Turkish workers to Germany to fill in this void, particularly to work in the factories that helped fuel Germany's economic miracle.

German-Turkish relations date back far into the times of the Ottoman Empire and, over the centuries, have become more and more intertwined.

Today, such a long-standing tradition of friendship and togetherness is mirrored by a multitude of strong ties in the fields of economy and politics and by cultural and social relations.

Germany is the third largest exporter in the world with $1.516 trillion exported products in 2012.

Currently, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on official visit to Berlin to re-energize Turkey´s relations with Germany.

The visit represents the first senior-level visit from the Turkish side after the German parliamentary elections last September, where Chancellor Angela Merkel secured a third consecutive term in power.

englishnews@aa.com.tr