A twenty-year-old trade deal between Turkey and the European Union is to be revisited.
The EU’s trade commissioner said the EU-Turkey Customs Union needed modernising so they could “bring it into the 21st century”.
“This initiative will boost EU-Turkey commercial relations,” she said.
The deal is understood to have emerged after considerable pressure from Turkey, which is concerned about the free trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and the EU.
Turkish ministers fear the deal, if enacted, would leave Turkish exporters at a disadvantage by allowing US exporters unfettered access to the Turkish market while continuing to restrict Turkish exports to the United States.
The EU-Turkey Customs Union has remained untouched since it first came into force in December 1995, eliminating tariffs on trade in industrial goods and processed agricultural products.
A new deal would involve extending it cover services, government contracting and most agricultural goods.
“Turkey has not given up on becoming a full member of the EU and at the end of this process it will be nearer,” said Nihat Zeybekçi, the Turkish economy minister
“Turkey would like to be in the league of the world economic powers, therefore Turkey would very much like to take part in the [trade negotiations with the United States,” Zeybekci said.
Turkey is also a significant trading partner for the EU: it is the EU’s sixth biggest trading partner, whereas the EU is Turkey’s biggest trading partner.
A statement from the European Union said there was “huge potential to further develop these trade relations and this is precisely what the new commercial framework will make possible.”
It added: “Turkey is a candidate country, and accession negotiations to the EU are ongoing. The enhancement of bilateral trade relations is not an alternative to the accession negotiations of Turkey, but complementary to it.”
