Eduardo González
The Governments of Spain and Turkey committed yesterday to reaching the figure of 25,000 million euros in trade exchanges in the coming years, while signing several agreements in five “key areas” to intensify economic and commercial cooperation with Turkey.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, yesterday inaugurated the Spain-Turkey business meeting, held in the Auditorium of the BBVA City Headquarters in Madrid and organized by the CEOE, the Secretary of State for Commerce, through ICEX, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and the Turkish Embassy in Spain, within the framework of the VIII High Level Meeting between both countries.
During his opening speech at the forum, attended by 200 representatives of 150 Turkish companies (for a total of more than 300 businessmen, between the two countries), Pedro Sánchez assured that Turkey is a key economic partner and that Spain is the best ally. of this country in Europe. “Our countries need each other; At the end of this year, we hope that reaching the figure of 20 billion euros of commercial exchange can become a reality,” he continued. This amount represents an increase of practically 50% since 2018.
The figure of 20 billion euros was agreed during the previous bilateral Summit, held in 2021 in Ankara. At the Summit held yesterday, the two Governments have committed (and this appears in the final Joint Declaration) to reach 25 billion euros in exchanges when the next bilateral meeting is held (Spanish-Turkish summits are held every three years, since 2009).
In 2022, Spain was the first investor in Türkiye, according to data from Invest in Türkiye. The Spanish investment position in Turkey is especially relevant in the banking services sector, but also in areas such as the textile and fashion industry, insurance, the automotive auxiliary industry, construction materials, tourism, engineering, defence, transport, sustainability, water management and energy security. Additionally, the president highlighted the potential offered by the fields of infrastructure, green transition and digital transformation to continue strengthening business ties between the two countries.
For his part, Erdogan highlighted the solid relations that both countries maintain, especially reinforced in the business field. “Global trade faces more and more challenges and that is why our collaboration is key in a context like the current one,” he stated. “We are taking important steps towards EU membership and I appreciate the great support provided by Spain to continue traveling this path together,” he continued. “The country grew 4.1% last year and 5.7% in this first quarter of 2024, and we will continue working to maintain the path of growth, always hand in hand with Spain,” he concluded.
During the meeting – which was attended, together with Sánchez and Erdogan, by the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, and the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi – a memorandum of understanding was signed to establish a Spanish-Turkish business committee, chaired by BBVA and Limak, the Turkish company with the largest number of investments in Spain.
In addition, agreements were reached in five key areas: an agreement for the review of the Agreement on the Protection and Reciprocal Promotion of Investments (APPRI), a memorandum between ICEX and the Investment Office of the Turkish Presidency to exchange information and promote investments, an agreement between the Spanish development finance company, COFIDES, and the Turkish sovereign fund to promote joint investments in Spain and Turkey and in third countries, an agreement between the two export credit insurance agencies, CESCE and Eximbank, and a memorandum of understanding between the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds and its Turkish counterpart (SEDDK) to promote cooperation and exchange of information.
