Aggressive approach planned for trade with Asia-Pacific

13 Apr '07

3 min read

State Minister Kurþad Tuzmen informed recently that Turkey was taking aggressive measures to improve trade relations with Asia-Pacific countries.

Turkey is expected to become a member of European Union (EU) by 2010, and later plans to extend FTAs to this potential region.

Minister also revealed country's aim to raise exports to Asia-Pacific three-fold by forming bilateral and other such agreements.

“I want to sell Turkey to the Asia-Pacific, an economic zone comprising 14 countries, by opening up big trade areas as it is an important market. Our exports to the region represents only three per cent of our total trade volume of US $423 billion (RM1,459 billion), which is significantly low,” he said at a press conference.

Tuzmen insisted that the region offered excellent opportunities in sectors like construction equipment, iron and steel, oil products, textile and apparels, mining and foodstuffs.

It has been forecasted in the light of global trends that, by the year 2050, the first two places in the global trade shall be occupied by countries from South-eastern Asia-Pacific Region and about 40-50 percent of the total trade shall take place in this region. Two of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China), which are forecasted by many strategy organizations to be the leader countries of global economy in 2050, are located in the Pacific geography.

On the other hand, there are countries in the region which are at very differentstages of development. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan, BRICs members such as People's Republic of China and India, leading ASEAN members such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore are in this region, as well as the least developed countries in the world such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Mongolia.

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