Minister Bolat stated that the bilateral trade between Turkiye and Hungary has increased to $4 billion and that the annual trade target of $6 billion set by President Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Orban will be reached in a short time.
Minister of Commerce Omer Bolat stated that the bilateral trade between Turkiye and Hungary has increased to $4 billion and that the annual trade target of $6 billion set by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban will be reached in a short time.
The protocol regarding the 1st Term Meeting of the Turkiye-Hungary Economy and Trade Joint Commission (ETOK/JETCO) was signed by Minister Bolat and Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Peter Szijjarto.
At the signing ceremony at the Ministry, Bolat reminded that at the Turkiye-Hungary High Level Strategic Cooperation Council Meeting held in Budapest on December 18, 2023, relations at the strategic partnership level with this country were upgraded to the enhanced strategic partnership level.
Stating that the opening ceremony of the “Turkiye-Hungary Culture Year” was held, Bolat said that 2025 was declared the “Joint Science and Innovation Year” by the leaders of the two countries.
Stating that the Joint Commission on Economy and Trade between the countries was established in 2022, Bolat said, “Our aim is to further deepen and advance our economic investment and trade relations. In this sense, the mechanisms to be discussed and decided upon will be determined at JETCO meetings.”
“We have increased our bilateral trade to $4 billion”
Bolat stated that the signed memorandum of understanding includes many issues, from bilateral relations to mutual investments, from technology to energy field, from trade to industry and cooperation between private sectors.
Stating that he believes that the meeting in question will create new opportunities to further develop economic relations with Hungary, Bolat said, “I would like to emphasize that we will regularly follow the concrete steps to be taken on the cooperation issues included in the memorandum of understanding.”
Bolat pointed out that we are going through an important period in which political, economic and social changes are experienced throughout the world and said:
“As Turkiye, we continue our work by taking into account all possible scenarios and their effects. However, the weak growth performance in the global economy, the decrease in investment appetite, the increase in commodity prices, especially oil, and regional conflicts had a negative impact on world trade in 2023, and world trade contracted. In such a period, we are very pleased that trade between Turkiye and Hungary will increase in 2023. We have increased our bilateral trade to $4 billion. We will reach the annual trade target of $6 billion set by the President and Prime Minister of the two countries in a very short time.”
“We will work determinedly to raise our economic relations to higher levels”
Stating that the start of natural gas exports from Turkiye to Hungary this year will further increase the trade of the two countries, Bolat said that Minister Szijjarto’s taking over the European Union (EU) Term Presidency in the second half of the year will also contribute to the relations between Turkiye and the EU.
Bolat pointed out that the cooperation between the parties in the field of transportation continues and said:
“We will soon see positive developments in increasing the frequency counts between the two countries in air transportation. In this sense, in the coming period, we will work determinedly as both parties to increase our mutual economic relations to much higher levels within the framework of the vision put forward by our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz