Turkish minister foresees $75 bln foreign trade deficit
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkish foreign trade deficit will be $75 bln in 2008, according to the expectations of Turkish State Minister for foreign trade. I expect 125 billion USD of exports and 200 billion USD of imports in 2008, Kursad Tuzmen quoted as saying on Tuesday by Anatolian Ageny.
Recent figures showed Turkey's annual trade volume as nearly $300 billion, Tuzmen said at the 3rd Summit of "Turkey-Africa: Foreign Trade Bridge" hosted by the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey in Istanbul.
He also said trade volume between Turkey and African countries would exceed 20 billion USD this year, adding "Turkey wants to grow with African countries and get a significant share from global trade."
Tuzmen said Turkish officials were separately holding talks with Algerian and South African officials to sign free trade agreements with these countries.
He said Turkey should focus on the great potential of Africa in regard to production of foodstuff, adding Africa needs a transformation on agricultural production and the developed countries should assist this process.
Trade volume between Turkey and African countries amounted to 5.4 billion USD in 2003 and the figure became nearly 13 billion USD at the end of 2007, he said.
"We aim to increase trade volume with African countries to 50 billion USD at the end of 2012," Tuzmen was quoted as saying by the Anatolian Agency.
Photo: AA