EU and Türkiye hold their first High-Level Dialogue on Trade
Today, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and his counterpart Türkiye Minister for Trade Ömer Bolat hold in Brussels the first EU-Türkiye High-Level Dialogue on Trade.
In line with the Joint Communication on EU-Türkiye relations from November 2023 and European Council conclusions, the new High-Level Dialogue on Trade aims to tackle the remaining bilateral trade irritants and discuss further areas of cooperation, notably ways to prevent the circumvention of EU sanctions. A business roundtable is also being held in order to exchange views with stakeholders on issues related to trade and the Customs Union.
After the removal by Türkiye of 11 trade barriers (out of 26) since early 2021, and further to the work in the dedicated bilateral trade working group, the two sides will discuss ways to remove additional priority barriers. The discussion on cooperation will focus on topics such as the green transition, digital trade and trade defence.
The EU and Türkiye will discuss cooperation to prevent the re-export of ‘Common High Priority‘ items to Russia, in light of the current geopolitical context.
The meeting of the High-Level Dialogue on Trade is an important milestone towards addressing the current difficulties in the implementation of the Customs Union, ensuring its effective application to all Member States and paving the way towards its modernisation.