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Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said the European Union is aware of Türkiye's increasing importance and is seeking a stronger defense alliance, while high-level economic and trade meetings will continue this year.
"There is a higher awareness about Türkiye's importance. Especially regarding geopolitical developments, NATO's situation, and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, they are aware of Türkiye's increasing importance," Bolat said following his meetings with EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Šefčovič and Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis in Brussels.
"The EU is seeking a stronger defense alliance with Türkiye. They express that they are aware of how important Türkiye's strong defense and strong defense industry is for Europe's defense as well. They told us 'we need to get closer to Türkiye.' Of course, we expect this to emerge equally strongly at the level of political leaders," Bolat said.
Bolat recalled that Türkiye and the EU have a partnership dating back many years, which began with the 1963 Ankara Agreement and continued with the Customs Union that entered into force in 1996. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Customs Union.
"Türkiye-EU relations have come a long way in the field of economic integration. Our mutual trade increased by nearly 7% and reached $233 billion this year," Bolat said.
Bolat noted that there has been a serious rapprochement between Türkiye and the EU Commission recently, with important progress made in discussing issues and developing solutions to emerging problems.
"Here, we want negotiations to start immediately on the modernization of the Türkiye-EU Customs Union, expanding it to the services sector, investments and e-commerce. We expressed this view. They share the same opinion," he added.
"A recommendation report on this matter was already submitted to the EU Council about 2 years ago. Authorization from the Council to the EU Commission has not yet been received," Bolat noted.
He explained that technical discussions and negotiations will begin once authorization is received from the EU Council to the Commission, and rapid progress can be made in such a case.
Bolat noted that the visa issue was also on the agenda, saying, "As a result of our two-year efforts regarding the visa problems of Turkish citizens, the EU Commission prepared a new system on July 15 of last year and decided to implement it both as the EU and as member states."
"A longer-term and multiple-entry visa application was initiated for Turkish citizens at each application," he added.
He explained that there has been a relative improvement in the visa issue, adding: "We wanted this to improve further and conveyed our demand for the visa liberalization that Turkish citizens are entitled to as soon as possible."
Bolat said they also evaluated recent developments in world trade, adding, "We conveyed our views and expectations as the Republic of Türkiye that this should not have negative effects on Türkiye-EU relations."
Emphasizing that there are serious problems and setbacks regarding the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the functioning of the multilateral system, Bolat said: "This leads to bilateral searches and practices. At this point, if the EU is going to have new application searches regarding competitiveness and trade policies within itself, we strongly emphasized that this should not have a negative effect on Türkiye-EU trade."
"Türkiye is not a third country. Türkiye is a partner country with the Customs Union and economic integration with the EU, and an EU candidate country conducting accession negotiations," Bolat said.
The Turkish minister also noted that technical teams from the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work with their counterparts at the EU Commission in the coming weeks on the functioning and regulations of the Customs Union and the carbon border tax.
"We will hold the third Türkiye-EU high-level trade dialogue this year," Bolat said.
He announced that high-level dialogue meetings with the EU will continue in July, adding that their meetings with EU officials took place in an extremely constructive and positive atmosphere.
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