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Türkiye and England started negotiations for a new free trade agreement. So, which issues and targets will be focused on in bilateral trade?
Türkiye and the UK announced that they will negotiate a new modernized free trade agreement in order to strengthen their bilateral trade relations with a volume of 23.5 billion pounds (30 billion dollars) and to achieve new economic targets. Türkiye and the United Kingdom, which have always been close to each other due to their cosmopolitan nature, have many trade-based agreements signed before. The most recent trade agreement between the two countries was signed in December 2020. Therefore, they are very determined to successfully build their relations in both countries and expressed their satisfaction to re-negotiate for a comprehensive free trade agreement.
The review clause in the current agreement has strongly encouraged Türkiye and the United Kingdom to re-evaluate their trade relations. The content of the signed agreement mainly covers industrial products and aims to protect the trade flow and supply chains after the UK leaves the European Union. For this reason, as a result of the studies carried out since last year, both countries concluded that it would be valuable to expand and deepen their commercial relations, and within this scope, they decided to work on an improved FTA by finalizing the review process.
With this new agreement, the UK aims to strengthen its political and economic relations with Türkiye after leaving the European Union (EU), while envisaging to expand its position in the Turkish market, especially in the field of services and digital trade. The first meeting before the negotiations, which is planned to start in 2024, was held in Ankara yesterday through the Joint Committee of Turkey and the UK. Previously, Türkiye and the UK were trading within the scope of the Customs Union Agreement until the Brexit (Britain's departure from the EU) on 31 January 2020.
