International Transporters’ Association (UND) President Tamer Dinçşahin said the government’s efforts to eliminate visa requirements with neighboring countries could be a boon for the industry. Turkey has eliminated the need to secure visas with Syria, Libya, Jordan and Tajikistan.
Speaking at a workshop in Mersin on Monday, the UND head said the sector is pleased to see visa requirements abolished with nearby countries, particularly those with whom Turkey has strong trade relations. Recalling that the transportation sector saw a 20 percent plunge in business in 2009 over the year before, Dinçşahin said, however, that the sector maintained hope of a leap forward in 2010. Emphasizing that current visa requirements placed a heavy burden on transporters, he said they appreciate the government’s efforts to ease these problems. “We lose both money and time with visas. Every country which abolishes visa requirements with Turkey makes us happy.” He said sector representatives were particularly interested in negotiations to remove visa requirements with Russia, underlining that such a development would give a boost to the Turkish logistics industry. Meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow last week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hinted that visa requirements with one of Turkey’s biggest trade partners could be lifted by May of this year.
Mentioning plans to establish logistics centers at certain points along important trade routes, a project the association has been working on for years, Dinçşahin said they expected to establish Turkey’s first logistics center in Mersin. He asserted that they will need the government’s support to this end. Acknowledging the current high oil prices in Turkey, the UND head said: “We are currently consuming the world’s most expensive oil. The transportation sector will find it even harder than before to survive unless the government addresses this problem with a new regulation.”
