Trade Minister Bolat held talks at the G20 summit
Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat attended the meetings he attended at the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Summit held in India, as well as holding bilateral meetings with representatives from various countries. According to a statement from the ministry, Bolat, who went to Jaipur for the Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting of the G20 Summit held under the Indian presidency with the theme of "One World, One Family, One Future", attended many sessions within this scope and held bilateral meetings with Trade Ministers of other member countries. Minister Bolat, who attended the opening session of the program, emphasized the importance of inclusive growth and human development in solving current global problems on behalf of Turkey. The meeting addressed the following topics: "trade, economic growth and prosperity", "strengthening the resilience of global value chains to crises" and "reforming the World Trade Organization". Within the scope of bilateral talks, Bolat met with Saudi Arabian Trade Minister Majid bin Abdullah AI Kasabi and said, "We evaluated the concrete steps that can be taken regarding issues such as bilateral trade, contracting services, and cooperation opportunities within the scope of Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision, which were also discussed during our President's visit to Saudi Arabia last month. The issues regarding the export of red meat, white meat, and dairy products to Saudi Arabia and the acceptance of letters of guarantee have been resolved. We believe that we will further develop our commercial relations in line with the high-level cooperation between our countries." Bolat also met with Oman's Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Promotion Qais Mohammed Al Yousef within the scope of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting. The Turkey-France JETCO meeting will be held in Turkey at the beginning of 2024 Minister Bolat also met with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala as part of his contacts. Okonjo stated that Turkey is a respected country and that he wants to see Turkey’s contributions and support at the WTO Ministerial Committee meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), next February. Bolat met with French Foreign Trade and Investments Minister Olivier Becht on the same day. Bolat stated that they discussed bilateral trade and investment issues between Turkey and France and had a productive meeting, and that they agreed to hold the JETCO meeting and Business Forum in Turkey at the beginning of 2024. Bolat stated that they also evaluated the process of updating the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union (EU) during the meeting, and that they decided to work closely for steps that will strengthen the dialogue between business circles and increase mutual investments. Investments with the UAE to be mutually accelerated Bolat, who met with UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi on the second day of the summit, shared the following regarding the details of the talks: "We discussed our plans for the new era that will begin in our economic relations with the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that will enter into force next week. We exchanged views on the investment areas decided on during our President’s visit to Abu Dhabi and the projects in which our contracting sector can be included within the scope of the UAE’s ‘Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision’. We decided to hold the first meeting of our JETCO mechanism in Turkey by the end of the year with the participation of our businessmen. We will mutually accelerate our work to increase bilateral trade and investments between Turkey and the UAE." - Message to strengthen economic and commercial ties with the US Minister Bolat met with EU Commission Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis at the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting. During the meeting, expectations and areas of cooperation were discussed before the new dialogue period in Turkey-EU trade, and the negotiations to update the Customs Union. Ömer Bolat, who also met with South Korean Trade Minister Dukgeun Ahn, stated that they expected import conveniences so that South Korea would invest more in Turkey and the foreign trade surplus in favor of South Korea would be corrected as soon as possible. Bolat, who held his last meeting in India within the scope of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers meeting with United States (US) Trade Representative Katherine Tai, stated that they had a productive meeting. In his statement after the meeting, Trade Minister Bolat noted the following: "We will implement a regular trade consultation mechanism to strengthen our economic and commercial ties with the US, one of our most important trade partners. We will work together to increase US companies' investments in Turkey and to ensure that Turkey has a stronger place in the global supply chain." Thus, Bolat, who had intensive contacts during the G20 Trade Ministers Summit in India, assessed that these meetings and bilateral meetings would lead to positive developments and cooperation for Turkey, especially in terms of exports and employment.