Türkiye, UK to expand free trade agreement to wide range of areas

(MENAFN) A free trade agreement between Türkiye and the UK will be expanded to a wide range of areas, meant to help reach a USD30 billion bilateral trade volume, as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met in London this week to discuss updating the bilateral deal.

The pact between Türkiye and the UK has been in force since 2021, though a review clause in the existing agreement post-Brexit led the two parties to reassess trade relations, which began in 2022 to expand and deepen trade relations between the two countries.

The renewed and expanded agreement will include investments and additional concessions for the agricultural sector, which is expected to form a stronger legal basis for businesspeople of the two countries. Türkiye’s exports to the UK in 2023 totaled USD12.5 billion, and imports reached USD6.5 billion, with a foreign trade surplus of USD5.9 billion, according to data compiled by Anadolu, while the trade volume between the two countries amounted to USD19 billion.

Türkiye exported products worth USD11.2 billion to the UK in the first nine months of this year, while imports made up USD5.1 billion, making for a bilateral trade volume of USD16.3 billion and a trade surplus of USD6.1 billion.

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