Prabhu wants bilateral issues cleared

Turkey’s Minister for Trade Ruhsar Pekcan hopes a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between her country and India could be finalised soon to ensure sustainability in trade relations.

Discussions for the FTA were on, she said, adding that Turkey would explore all opportunities to have an FTA in place.

She said that the bilateral trade volume was all set to reach US$8 billion mark in the coming financial year, based on the 11 months performance, up from US$7 billion in 2017.

Turkey would like the figures to be much higher along with balanced trade, she added.

Pekcan was optimistic that issues such as non-acceptance of Turkey’s letters of credit and the absence of a correspondent bank in India would be resolved before the forthcoming visit to Turkey of India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.

Meanwhile, India is striving hard to resolve all pending issues relating to trade with Turkey before Prabhu and his delegation visit in February 2019.

Addressing the ‘India-Turkey Business Forum’, jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and DEiK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) of Turkey, Prabhu said that several issues that were hindering the augmentation of trade between the two countries.

He has discussed these issues with the visiting Turkish Minister.

The issues included setting up of banking facilities in both countries and the tapping of construction opportunities in India and issues relating to increasing commodity products like boric acid and poppy seeds exports from Turkey to India.

He said that bilateral trade relations would have to be made sustainable. “We cannot just export, we have to import from Turkey too,” the minister stressed.

Prabhu said the proposal to trade in local currencies was now with the Finance Ministry and he was hopeful that this would be dealt with soon.

Sandip Somany, who became FICCI President after the 14-15 Dec 2018 AGM, said that FICCI would work closely with the governments of both countries to remove the hurdles in the way of two-way trade.

He suggested the setting up of Indian industrial parks in Turkey for export-led industries seeking to access the European markets.

Somany added that Indian and Turkish companies were vying for the same contracts, particularly in Africa. “There is a need for cooperation rather than competition”, he said.

Nail Olpak, President, DEiK, added that India was one of the four priority trade partner countries for Turkey.

DEiK, he said was the gateway for trading partners and urged Indian companies to tap the organisation?s expertise.

He also spoke of the need to raise the bilateral trade engagement to a much higher level.

T R Kesavan, President, Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE), commended the smooth business facilitation services in Turkey and urged Indian companies to use Turkey as a gateway for exports to the EU and the Balkans. fiinews.com