Turkey and Colombia Hold Major Trade Meeting

Major Meeting for Turkey-Colombia Trade Turkey and Colombia aim to increase bilateral trade volume to USD 5 billion. As part of the Ministry of Trade's distant markets strategy, Turkish exporters conducted a mission to Colombia on 27-30 March 2023 with a delegation of 25 companies. Aegean Exporters Associations, which started 2023 with dynamic foreign trade marketing events, concluded the first quarter of the year under the organization of the Turkish Exporters Assembly with the Colombia Trade Delegation, which it views as a key instrument for increasing trade with South America and the United States.  

Ambassador Sun: "FTA will accelerate the USD 5 billion journey"

Türkiye's Ambassador to Colombia Beste Pehlivan Sun, noting Turkey's strong commitment to developing trade with Colombia and that the Colombia market aligns with the Target Markets Strategy and Distant Markets Strategy set out by the Turkish Ministry of Trade for 2023, stated that the two countries aim to increase bilateral trade volume to USD 5 billion. Pointing to the need to accelerate the Free Trade Agreement process to reach USD 5 billion in trade volume between Turkey and Colombia, Ambassador Sun said: "The arrival of our 25 companies producing at world standards and exporting in different sectors from Turkey to Colombia is the most important indicator of our desire to increase trade volume between Turkey and Colombia to USD 5 billion. I would like to share on this occasion that we expect a step from the Colombian side towards concluding a free trade agreement as soon as possible to reach our goals." Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator Chairman of the Aegean Exporters Associations (EİB), who also chaired the Colombia Trade Delegation organization, emphasized that the 25 Turkish companies held 220 bilateral business meetings with 62 Colombian companies in Bogota, and that Turkish and Colombian businesspeople took the first concrete step towards increasing bilateral trade volume to USD 5 billion. While struggling with all these difficulties, we experienced earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş affecting 11 provinces that account for 9 percent of Turkey's exports. Considering the major damage we suffered from the earthquake, we must conduct more aggressive marketing to "preserve what we have." Within this framework, we successfully organized an event in Colombia. We also conveyed our gratitude to Colombian businesspeople and officials for their support following the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes," he said.

Prieto: "We will invigorate trade between the two countries"

German Prieto, an official at Colombia's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, stated that bilateral business meetings between Turkish and Colombian businesspeople will accelerate increased trade between the two countries, and that Colombia welcomes the partnership that will revive and strengthen commercial ties between the two nations. Highlighting that Colombia and Turkey have expertise in different areas, Prieto said: "Turkish businesspeople came to our country to conduct 'knowledge exchange' in many fields such as agriculture, science and technology, tourism, and sports, and achieved successful results. Thus, progress has been recorded for the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement used to promote and strengthen bilateral relations. Colombia wants to concentrate Turkey's trade policy, integration into global value chains, diversified and standardized agro-industrial export offerings, energy transition, sustainability, and cooperation and investment agenda on building tourism capacities. We will have interaction on best practices application for road projects, knowledge transfer to strengthen projects, sustainable and innovative practices, and analysis of successful sustainable projects carried out in Turkey," he said. Burak Sertbaş, Chairman of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Confection Exporters Association, sharing information that they organized the "Colombia Trade Delegation" under the Target Markets Strategy and Distant Markets Strategy of the Ministry of Trade and under the coordination of the Turkish Exporters Assembly as the Aegean Exporters Associations, summarized the activities carried out by the Turkish delegation within the scope of the "Colombia Trade Delegation" as follows: "Information seminars on the Colombia market held on Tuesday, 27 March were conducted with the participation of Muhammet Hartavi, Turkey's Bogota Trade Counselor, Soraya Caro, Advisor to Colombia's Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, and experts from the Procolombia institution. Following the information seminar, we conducted supermarket visits for market research as a Turkish delegation." Noting that in the "Colombia Trade Delegation," Selim Ecirli, Director of Turkish Airlines in Bogota and Ecuador, and Maria Monica Conde Barragan, Vice Chairman responsible for International Relations and Cooperation at the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, also took part, Sertbaş said: "While the 25 companies from Turkey signed 220 bilateral meetings with 62 Colombian companies, the bilateral meetings were attended by representatives of major retail chains such as Alkosto and Olimpica, as well as many buyers from different sectors. As a Turkish delegation, we also visited the Colombian Business Association Fenalco. We reached agreement with Fenalco Second Vice Chairman Eduardo Visbal on trade between Turkey and Colombia reaching a balance and achieving a USD 5 billion trade volume," he said. The Turkish delegation, which included Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator Chairman of the Aegean Exporters Associations, Burak Sertbaş, Chairman of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear Confection Exporters Association, and Tolga Uskuç, Board Member of the Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association, included: ACTO ULUSLARARASI, AKASYA TARIM, Başarı Tekstil, CHEF SEASONS, ÇEMAR MERMER, DATKA ITHALAT, EMEK KOZMETİK, ERBİ BAĞLANTI, GÜRIŞIK YAĞLAMA, INFO GLOBAL DYS TEKSTİL, İBRAHİM YILDIZ, İLKA BASKI KUMAŞ, KOMYILDIZ TEKSTİL LTD.ŞTİ, LENA TARIM URUNLERI, MARMARA DAĞITIM İÇ VE DIŞ TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., Mertler Endüstri, PAKEL GIDA, PNG KOZMETİK, PROTA YAZILIM, Raff Giyim Sanayi İç ve Dış Tic. Ltd. Şti., SAFAŞ TEKSTİL, SAFKAR EGE, SEGER SES, UB MARBLEND and ZEKNER HOLDİNG A.Ş.