Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan had a bilateral meeting with Darko Horvat, Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Handicrafts of Croatia, within the scope of her contacts in Croatia.
Pekcan, in her statement to journalists at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce after the meeting, said that they reached an agreement on what to do to develop the economic and commercial relations of the two countries, increase the trade volume and mutual investments, and that they were working on new areas of cooperation.
Reminding that Croatia has assumed the term presidency of the European Union (EU), Pekcan said, “For Turkey, updating the Customs Union Agreement has become an essential issue for both the EU and Turkey. In this regard, we attach great importance to Croatia’s contributions in this direction during the term presidency. ” he said.
Increase in trade volume between the two countries
Pekcan stated that the trade volume between the two countries has increased in the last 2 years and increased by 6 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year, reaching 664 million dollars, and said:
“Our primary goal is to increase the trade volume between the two countries first to 2 billion dollars and then to 5 billion dollars. For this, we find mutual visits, studies, active participation of the business world in this process, and incentives to increase both investment and trade extremely important.”
Pointing out that Turkey is a potential exporter in products such as automotive and sub-industry, textile, ready-made clothing, iron and steel, furniture, sunflower, biscuit, confectionery and chocolate, Pekcan said that apart from this, the service, tourism, contracting and consultancy sectors are also important areas of cooperation. He stated that it was.
Pekcan stated that they also discussed the potential sectors between the two countries and said, “We are also preparing a matrix study. We have a study on products for which Croatia is an importer and Turkey is an exporter, but with little mutual trade, and we presented them to them. They also presented the same study.” If they do, we will gladly take it into consideration.” said.
“We will gladly attend the Izmir Fair”
Minister Pekcan informed that they are considering a theme for the Izmir International Fair with the symbol of the “Blue Continent” related to the Mediterranean countries and said, “We invited them to the Izmir Fair with a large-scale delegation. We will also deliver our official invitation.” he said.
Croatian Minister Horvat also pointed out that there were positive economic developments between the two countries in 2018-2019 and said that the trade volume will go much higher than 600 million dollars in the future.
Stating that they will attend the Izmir Fair with great pleasure, Horvat said, “We will achieve much better results with these working teams between the two countries.” said.
Horvat, on the question about the hotel and port investment that Doğuş Group plans to make in the city of Zadar, said, “I am following this issue. A completely transparent tender was held for this investment. We will hold meetings with Doğuş Group, the Minister is also here, we will learn what path they will follow in the future. ” he said.
Türkiye-Croatia Round Table Meeting was held
Meanwhile, under the coordination of the Ministry of Commerce and the organization of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) and the Croatian Chamber of Economy, a Turkey-Croatia Round Table Meeting was held with the participation of business people.
In her speech at the opening of the meeting, Pekcan said that in her meeting with Croatian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Handicrafts Darko Horvat, they discussed the problems between the two countries. Pekcan stated that it is necessary to remove obstacles to trade and evaluate political conflicts separately from commercial issues.
Stating that they are planning to hold the Joint Economic Commission meeting with Croatia this year, Pekcan said, “In addition, we will continue our work for the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) Agreement with Croatia. At the same time, we will continue our work on simplified customs. We will continue our work on Croatia’s EU term. “We believe that his presidency will be very successful. We expect our relations to be very positively affected in this period, both in terms of Turkey-Croatia and Turkey-EU relations.” he said.
Reminding that the Customs Union Agreement with the EU entered into force in 1996 and was seen as a temporary agreement until definitive membership, Minister Pekcan continued as follows:
“Therefore, many articles in the Customs Union Agreement were not emphasized and they were treated as ‘temporary’. Now, the scope of the new generation free trade agreements that have been signed is much broader and more comprehensive. On the occasion of Croatia’s EU term presidency, the EU and Turkey’s Customs Agreement “We also attach great importance to their contribution to the update of the Union Agreement. We need to adapt this agreement to today’s economic conditions. By including services, e-commerce, agriculture and public procurement in this agreement, business relations between Turkey and Croatia will further increase and new potential areas will emerge. .”
Pointing out that they focused on the necessity of updating the agreement with the countries they met with, Pekcan stated that the impact analyzes showed that updating this agreement is a process that will contribute to the economic and commercial interests of both parties and to increasing economic prosperity.
Pekcan emphasized that collaborations are even more important today and said:
“In a period where global trade wars are seen, international trade is restricted, protectionist measures increase, and epidemics such as coronavirus increase, it has become more critical for us to create new economic opportunities. Regional cooperations have become more meaningful and important. In this process, private sector representatives also “We attach great importance to their contributions.”
“We can cooperate in the fields of technology, innovation, contracting and tourism”
Stating that they agreed with their Croatian counterpart to increase the exports of both countries in a balanced manner within the framework of a win-win policy, Pekcan stated that they will provide all kinds of support to overcome the obstacles facing business people.
Pekcan pointed out that the two countries have well-educated young populations and stated that they need to develop innovative business areas, and in this sense, they can cooperate with Croatia, especially in the fields of technology, innovation, contracting and tourism.
Stating that Turkey has a very comprehensive and flexible investment incentive system and that they want Croatian business people to benefit from these opportunities, Pekcan said, “As of November 2019, we received 7.5 billion dollars of direct foreign investment. In the last 17 years, the amount of foreign direct investment has reached 217 billion dollars “On this occasion, we want to see the Croatian and Turkish business world together more in joint projects.” said.
“A new agreement should be made on Turkey’s steel export quota”
Croatian Minister Darko Horvat stated that they discussed some problems between the two countries during his meeting with Minister Pekcan, and that they thought that the economic relations between the two countries could reach better levels in a short time by solving these problems. Horvat said, “We think that perhaps we should make a new agreement, especially on the points we agreed on in 2005-2006-2007 regarding Turkey’s steel export quota.” he said.
Stating that they welcomed Minister Pekcan’s invitation to the Izmir Fair, Horvat stated that they wanted to bring business people who do not have investments in Turkey to the fair.
Horvat pointed out that it was necessary to speed up these organizations and businessman meetings and emphasized that it was necessary to focus on certain issues in certain areas.
Stating that they agreed on providing support to investors, Horvat said, “We need to solve the problems of the business world by listening to the problems of the real sector and breaking down political barriers. We can do a lot as two countries, we need to use this synergy. I can say that 2020 will be better than 2019.” said.
Horvat added that it is very important for the Croatian Chamber of Economy to open an office in Istanbul, especially for Croatian companies to produce better results internationally.
New road map proposal from TİM
Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President İsmail Gülle also stated that the mutual trade volume with Croatia is 665 million dollars.
Stating that despite the 65 percent increase in trade volume in the last 5 years, the point reached is far below the potential of both countries, Gülle said:
“2 thousand 177 companies from Turkey exported 426.8 million dollars to Croatia in 2019. Automotive, electrical-electronics, ready-made clothing, machinery and steel sectors stand out in Turkey’s exports to Croatia. Turkey exported 106 companies to Croatia in automotive. million dollars, 78 million dollars in electrical and electronics, 44 million dollars in ready-made clothing, 37 million dollars in steel and 27 million dollars in machinery. The total share of these 5 sectors in our exports is over 65 percent. Croatia’s exports to Turkey include iron and steel. and machinery sectors constitute 62 percent of total exports. While the top 5 products that Croatia imports from the world are approximately 4.4 billion dollars, the import of these products from Turkey was only 1.3 million dollars. Croatia’s soft drinks, cigarettes, “While we imported 341 million dollars in animal feed and various iron and steel products, Croatia did not import from Turkey, although our country has a competitive advantage in international markets in these products.”
Pointing out that Turkey ranks 19th among the countries from which Croatia imports the most, Gülle said, “Considering both the logistics facilities and the deep-rooted relations between both countries, I think Turkey should be ranked higher in this list. For this reason “We must increase cooperation to initially increase Turkey’s share in Croatia’s imports from 1.5 percent to 3 percent, as in 2010.” he said.
Gülle stated that, as representatives of the business world of the two countries, in order to move trade forward, a new road map can be created to diversify the products subject to trade by creating working groups to develop mutual cooperation areas.
