Turkish minister backs World Trade Organization deal

By Mehtap Yilmaz

ANKARA (AA) - Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci has backed the World Trade Organization’s first-ever multilateral trade agreement, saying it would help developing countries in boosting their exports.

Speaking at a meeting of custom managers in the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges on Wednesday, Tufenkci said: "It is foreseen that developing countries would take the highest advantage of the deal. It is expected that the required duration for imports would decrease by one-and-a-half day and almost 2 days for exports.

“The amount of exports is predicted to rise by 20 percent when the deal gets fully implemented.”

The Trade Facilitation Agreement -- the first-ever multilateral trade deal in the World Trade Organization's history -- entered into force in February 2017, following its ratification by two-thirds of the body’s membership.

"The deal is supposed to contribute $1 trillion to the global trade annually," the minister said.

It is expected that total trade cost of WTO members would decrease by 14.3 percent after full implementation of the deal, he said.

He said Turkey aims to increase its exports.

"Our [Turkey] exports reached $142.5 billion by the end of 2016 while it was $36.1 billion in 2002. Our imports increased to $198.6 billion from $51.6 billion [during the same period]. Hence, our foreign trade volume currently stands at $341 billion while it was below $100 billion in 2002," Tufenkci said.

Turkey's share in global trade currently stands at 1.15 percent while it was 0.67 percent in 2002, he added.

He also underlined the need for the country to implement more efficient methods and to embrace more innovative approach to reach its goals for 2023, 2053 and 2071.