Thursday, March 20, 2008

India, Turkey to initiate talks on FTA

by Jo Black

Turkey and India have expressed their desire to give a major fillip to their bilateral trade with the Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade & Foreign Contracting Services, Mr. Kursad Tuzman and India’s Minister of State for Industry, Dr. Aswani Kumar, calling for the initiation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Addressing the India-Turkey Business Forum, Mr. Tuzmen said, with a view to aligning our preferential regime with the EU under the Customs Union, we would like to initiate and conclude free Trade Agreement negotiations with India. The Business Forum was organized by FICCI in association with Turkey’s Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade, Aegean Exporters’ Association and Tuskon.

On his part, Dr. Ashwani Kumar said, We need to exponentially enhance the economic relationship between India and Turkey, not just in scale but also in quality, and towards that end we need to move towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, that covers trade in goods and services and investment protection pact.

The Turkish Minister said, trade relations between Turkey and India has displayed considerable improvement during the last five years. The total trade volume has reached US$ 2.6 billion in 2007 and we are targeting a figure of US$ 5 billion by 2012 and US$ 10 billion in the next 10 years.

Mr. Tuzmen pointed out that once the proposed FTA is concluded, the business communities in the two countries would have in place a well-designed and smooth atmosphere for trade and economic relations.

He invited Indian companies to invest in Turkey in the energy sector. Turkey, he said, has been implementing a strategic national policy in the energy sector including natural gas and oil procurement from existing and under-construction pipelines, concentrating on alternative energy sources and liberalizing its energy market.

Mr. Tuzmen outlined the potential areas for Indian companies to cooperate with their counterparts in Turkey. Specifically, he saw scope for tie-ups in mining, biotechnology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, including coastal development projects and hotel management, automotive, informational technology and rail transportation.

Likewise, the Turkish business community was keen to broaden its presence in the Indian market by investing in different potential sectors including food and food processing, textiles, plastics, chemicals, machinery, construction materials as well as taking part in the infrastructure projects to be executed in the next decade.

 

 

 

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