Turkey - US Government officials met on January 24 in Ankara, Turkey, with their Turkish Government counterparts for the fourth meeting under the United States-Turkey Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
The meeting was led by Assistant US Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Shaun Donnelly and Turkish Under-Secretary for Foreign Trade Tuncer Kayalar.
During these productive meetings, the two sides discussed the full range of bilateral issues as well as coordination on multilateral issues.
The agenda covered priority trade issues for both countries, including improving market access for US agricultural products, strengthening Turkey's protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and addressing taxation and business climate issues affecting US companies.
In addition, the two sides discussed key issues related to the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations. On the margins of the meeting, the US delegation also met with Turkish officials at the Ministry of Agriculture as well as with Turkish business representatives.
Two-way trade in goods between the United States and Turkey totaled $8.3 billion in 2004, with the figure estimated to have climbed in 2005 to $9.5 billion.
The US-Turkey Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) was signed in 1999.
Office of the US Trade Representative