Bi-Literal Trade Between Turkey And Ireland Expected To Grow By 300%

Bi-lateral trade between Turkey and Ireland is projected to grow by over 300% in the next ten years, stated the Irish Exporters Association as it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Turkish Exporters Assembly in Istanbul.

Mr John Whelan, Chief Executive of the Irish Exporters Association said that he believed that the MoU would pave the way to the expansion and development of business opportunities for Irish companies in Turkey and will encourage many mutually beneficial business ventures in the future. In particular, the M.O.U. is focused on achieving:

• An increase in bi-lateral trade between Ireland and Turkey from €1.3 billion in 2012 to €3.5 billion in the decade to 2023. This links into the Turkish Exporters Assembly “Strategy 2023’’ and the Turkish national strategy document to double exports by 2023.

• An increase in Irish exports of goods and services to Turkey from €803 million in 2012 to €2 .0 Billion by 2023.

The signing of the MoU was done in the presence of Mr Eamon Gilmore, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who is leading the Irish Trade Mission to Turkey, and said on the occasion: "The IEA has been active in supporting its members to expand their exports into new and existing markets for over 60 years now and I would like to congratulate them for the great work they have done down through the years in support of the Irish export industry.

"Today's milestone signing is a direct consequence of the fast- growing interest among Irish companies in deepening their engagement with Turkey, across a wide range of sectors including ICT & telecoms, financial services, engineering, CleanTech, life sciences and medical technologies. I hope that this MoU, which brings these two important trade organisations together, will also serve to develop business opportunities for both Turkish and Irish companies to the benefit of both of our countries."

Mr Whelan told the assembled audience in Istanbul that the Turkish economy was the envy of many economies in the Eurozone having survived the worse effects of the worldwide economic crisis. He noted that much of Turkey’s economic success has come about as a consequence of a carefully designed, sound macro-economic strategy along with timely and decisive implementation of fiscal policies and structural reforms.

Illustrating the vibrancy of Turkey's exporter sector Mr Whelan said: "Ireland has proved to be a good market for Turkish exporters who increased exports to Ireland by over 300% in the past ten years to reach over half a billion euro’s in goods and services last year."

(CD)