UAE-Turkey trade grows in 2011, reaches up to $3.6 bln

The UAE-Turkish bilateral trade has registered considerable growth during the past ten years, going up by 572 per cent to reach $3.6 billion in 2011, an official at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade said. Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Trade Juma Al Kait said that Turkey is one of the world’s top modern industrial countries, with strong production capabilities in various sectors such as home appliances, agricultural products, electronics, textiles, transport vehicles, machinery, construction material, etc. He added that "with such a strengthening economy that has seen exports rise to $135 billion last year a considerable increase from 2002 when they were a more modest $36 billion Turkey is well positioned to become one of the world’s fastest growing economies over the coming few years" with a forecasted annual growth of 6.7 per cent, which further encourages the setting up more Turkish-UAE commercial and economic partnerships." UAE-Turkish commercial exchange reached $3.6 billion in 2011, achieving a year-on-year growth of 30.3 per cent. This amount can be broken down to $2.439 billion in imports, $882.4 million in exports, and $303 million in re-exports, with the latter two achieving growth rates of 453 per cent and 112 per cent respectively. His remarks came during a panel discussion at the Arab Turkish Economic Forum, held in Istanbul this weekend on the current state of Arab economies in light of the ongoing changes witnessed in the region. Al Kait noted that trade between the Arab world and Turkey had reached $34.7 billion in 2011, 15.5 per cent or around $5.4 billion of which was conducted solely with the UAE, pointing out that there are currently over 850 Turkish companies and trademarks operating in the UAE economy. Al Kait underlined the importance of exerting more efforts towards further strengthening Arab-Turkish economic cooperation in order to better confront current global economic challenges, achieve better growth in bilateral trade and attract more FDIs that would achieve more economic and political stability. The event was attended by over 600 delegates from Turkey and the Arab world.