The FINANCIAL — According t0 Today's Zaman, Russia has expanded the coverage of non-trade barriers against Turkish exporters to this country by enforcing a complete inspection of Turkish trucks coming from Europe.
Already extremely discontent with the tightened controls on Turkish goods at the Russian border — as this causes serious losses to Turkish trade — Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen's tone was once more that of anger when commenting on this newest development, saying, "This is clearly a non-tariff barrier."
Speaking to the press after meeting his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in Beijing, Tüzmen said steps to normalize relations through diplomacy seem to have failed so far. As he announced on Friday, Turkey is poised to initiate a package of measures to counter the Russian obstacles on the basis of reciprocity. In other words, Turkey will place the Russian Federation into the category of high-risk countries and will incur full-fledged inspections to all trucks coming from Russia.
Russia says lengthy inspections of trucks from NATO-member Turkey, which coincide with tensions between Moscow and the military alliance over the Caucasus, where Russia this month fought a short war with Georgia, are due to a new customs law.
The minister said in yesterday's meeting that Russia was a top trade partner for Turkey, with $38 billion in total annual trade volume. Therefore, the two nations have to do everything possible to reach a peaceful solution as soon as possible, he noted.
Many Turkish companies, especially textile manufacturers, are having their goods produced in China or India and packed in several Eastern European nations. These goods are later sold in the Russian market. If Russian customs authorities find goods produced in Turkey among the consignments, they cause difficulties and customs transactions for these goods last longer than usual. This situation will also cause several global companies that use Turkey as a transit point to enter the vast Russian market to step back from their interests in Turkey, fueling losses. This also brings up several problems in the export of famous brands manufactured in Turkey. The Russian move is commonly being seen as further proof that Russia's changed stance is a political one rather than economic.
As announced by Tüzmen, Turkey is starting reciprocal measures today in response to the increased security measures on Russian customs. The measures package will be open, gradual and progressive. Asked whether Turkey will put limits on its energy imports from Russia, the minister avoided going into details and said, "I believe that explanation is enough for today."
China hopes for notable trade volume increase with Turkey
Tüzmen's main agenda, however, was commercial relations with China. He mentioned the revival of the biggest and most vivid trade route of the ancient world, the Silk Road, by creating a modern railway system spanning from Beijing to Mersin. "This is already the shortest and the most economical path possible," he said.
Turkey really wishes to boost the trade with Asia's rising giant and is working hard to achieve this, the minister underlined. Turkey officially attended 50 business fairs in China while many Turkish companies followed business opportunities in 500 fairs in the last six years. "We are implementing short and longer term measures for a balanced trade with China. The trade volume between the two countries was $7 billion in 2005 and it edged up to $10.4 billion in 2006. Last year the figure jumped to $14.3 billion. This year we are targeting to record $18 billion," the minister said.
Turkey is opening a "trade office" in China to help and guide Chinese entrepreneurs targeting the Turkish market while promoting investment opportunities in Turkey. Meanwhile, Tüzmen said, Turkey's president will be visiting this country with numerous businessmen in November.
Chinese Trade Minister Deming underlined that trade rates between Turkey and China increased notably in recent times and that Turkey had become one of China's important trade partners. Deming said that China wanted to continue its commercial relations with Turkey on a more balanced ground. Tüzmen said Turkey and China have decided to take initiatives to increase bilateral trade volume. Saying that he and Deming discussed issues concerning investments, tourism, foreign trade and transportation in detail, Tüzmen noted that Turkey and China will implement reciprocal projects soon. Tüzmen stressed that Turkey's trade volume with China, which was $7 billion three years ago, will reach $18 billion by the end of this year. He went on to say that the new projects concerning transportation and tourism will bring in a fresh awakening in the two country's commercial relations. Tüzmen also noted that Turkey had already agreed on a multi-directional strategic partnership with China, adding that the two hope to achieve further improvements and strengthen relations on commercial terms.
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