Statements by U.S. Officials

Trade and Investment Council Fourth Term Meeting - Joint Press Statement

January 24, 2006

The fourth assembly of the Turkey-US Trade and Investment Council meeting, established in line with the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) signed between Turkey and the US in 1999, was held on January 24, 2006 in Ankara.

Foreign Trade Undersecretary Tuncer Kayalar headed the Turkish Delegation and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Shaun Donnelly headed the U.S. Delegation in the meeting. 

US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson also participated in the Meeting.

Beside the Council Meeting, Ambassador Shaun Donnelly had bilateral meeting with Mr. Haşim Öğüt, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Ambassador Shaun Donnelly also visited the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, and received information on the Turkish companies’ activities in the US market.

The two sides discussed various areas of the bilateral relations during the meeting, and the desire of both sides to enhance market access.

The Turkish delegation provided detailed information to the U.S. delegation on the economic developments in recent years, the macroeconomic stability environment in Turkey, the Government of Turkey’s stance with regard to the major issues in world trade, Turkey’s trade policies and its regional trade strategies.

The US is the largest economy in the world and one of the Turkey’s most significant trading partners. The trade volume between the two countries has exceeded $9 billion. Turkey exported $4.8 billion to the U.S. in 2005, and imported $4.8 billion from the U.S. in the first 11 months of the same year.

The U.S. is the fourths largest market for Turkish exports and is the sixth largest country exporting to Turkey. In 2005, around 7% of Turkish exports went to the U.S. and 5% of Turkish imports came from the U.S. However, Turkey’s share in the total U.S. imports is only 0.3%.

The Turkish side informed the U.S. delegation about “Turkey’s Strategy to Develop Trade with the U.S.”. This strategy will further accelerate the efforts to strengthen economic partnership between Turkey and the U.S.

Among the issues raised by the U.S. side were concerns about protection of intellectual property rights in Turkey and market access for U.S. agricultural products.

From the Turkish side, the issues raised included Turkey’s access to the US Generalized Preferences System Program and concerns regarding anti-dumping and countervailing duties. 

Foreign direct investments constitute a significant aspect of the bilateral relations. The number of U.S. companies in Turkey in 2001 in Turkey was 283, whereas this number exceeded 600 as of the end of 2005. U.S. investment total exceeded $4.5 billion. This amount will further increase with the investment in the banking sector.

The two sides exchanged opinions regarding the U.S. investments in Turkey and ways to improve Turkey’s investment environment.

The Trade and Investment Council Meeting, which was held in a traditional friendship and cooperative spirit has set forth the priorities of the coming period and has been a new start, a right step to strengthen our economic partnership.