EU confirms efficacy of Turkey’s trade diversification policy

The Anatolia news agency quoted details about Turkey from the most recent Foreign Trade Report of the EU Commission yesterday. The report said the share of Turkey’s exports to EU members in its overall sales abroad had declined at a faster pace, especially after the current economic crisis erupted, but the trade with its neighbors had risen steadily. In particular, its trade with Iraq has witnessed a considerable increase and is in an upward trend, the report noted.

Turkey has been in search of a new strategy to put its eggs in different baskets in foreign trade to stem the risks of the falling demand from the EU amidst the weakening purchasing power in Europe. Apparently, the report argued, this strategy has been successful. The EU still has the largest share in Turkey’s total exports with 48.2 percent as of October. But it was well above 50 percent just a year ago.

The commission report also confirmed that the strategy of trade diversification helps the country ease the adversities of the global financial crisis. According to the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly’s (TİM) figures released on Sunday, Turkey’s exports have increased for the first time in 12 months and reached $9.95 billion. The growing share of its trade with neighbors played an integral role in this number.

The commission report further assessed that the lira staying clear from overvaluation, Turkey’s dynamic exporters and the relatively greater weight of industrial products in export items are contributing positively to Turkey’s competitiveness in international markets. Neighboring countries are defined as the countries that have common borders with Turkey or that may be reached from Turkey directly, without having to cross a third country, making Turkey’s neighbors Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Armenia. The surrounding countries are those which don’t share a common frontier with Turkey but have cultural ties or geographical proximity and are feasible markets in terms of population and economic potential. These countries are Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Moldova and Macedonia.