Today I will focus more on the structure of Turkey’s foreign trade. An interesting observation is that the EU-25 share of Turkey’s exports is not growing (see Figure 1). Actually the rate of increase in exports to some “alternative” trade destinations shows the most dramatic growth for Turkey (see Figure 2).This means that Turkey’s heavy single-market dependence on Europe is in relative decline. This space is now being primarily occupied by some African and Asian countries. This process has been vindicated once again by the export figures for 2007 as of June. As can be observed from the given table, the rise in Turkey’s export to the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) -- including Russia -- and the Turkic republics is 57 percent, 41.7 percent and 54.3 percent respectively.
All these developments are the result of Turkey’s concrete strategic orientations in foreign trade. This strategy simply has two stages. In the first stage, within the medium term, Turkey’s objective is to increase its trade share in markets near Turkey, including the Middle East, Caucasus and Balkan regions, and also the Turkic republics of Central Asia. In the longer term, however, far east Asia and the wider African geography are targeted. In these efforts there are some governmental and some nongovernmental organizations that I want to declare Turkey’s “national team,” well-orchestrated by Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen. Among the governmental organizations, obviously, praise goes to the Ministry for Foreign Trade and the related bureaucratic bodies. Among the NGOs, some organizations for businessmen, such as the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) and the İstanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (İTKİB) are taking the lead in this regard.
