22 February 2009
Growing Trade with Turkey
The Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, will host the Sixth Australia-Turkey Joint Economic Committee for Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation in Canberra on Monday 23 February 2009. The Turkish delegation will be led by HE Mr Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of State responsible for the economy.
Minister Crean said “The Sixth Meeting of the Joint Economic Committee for Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation with Turkey is a clear signal of the strength of the bilateral commercial relationship. Two-way trade has more than doubled over the past five years to be worth more than A$1 billion dollars in 2007-08 and opportunities exist for further growth and investment”.
“The JEC is an important vehicle for facilitating bilateral trade and investment. It provides an excellent platform for Australia and Turkey to promote opportunities for further cooperation on bilateral and international economic and trade issues, including in the resources trade, agriculture sector and education services exports.
Turkey has a rapidly expanding energy sector which provides significant opportunities for the export of Australian services and cooperation in infrastructure development.
“One exciting example of the way we can build links in this sector is our initiative to work more closely in the development of clean coal technologies, an area where we can work together to meet our common challenges on energy and climate change,” he said. “I look forward to talking to Minister Şimşek on these issues.”
Mr Crean and Minister Şimşek will discuss the important role of the G-20 Summit process in meeting the challenge of the global economic crisis, including through our efforts on trade and trade reform.
“Concluding Doha would make a major contribution to restoring confidence in the global economy and assist in the global economic recovery, as well as improving exporters’ access to international markets”, Mr Crean said.
“As common members of the G20 process, we will be engaging Minister Şimşek on a discussion of how we can ensure that, through the G20 process, open trade flows are an integral part of our response to the global economic crisis”.
Minister Şimşek, and an accompanying business delegation, will meet private and public sector representatives to explore opportunities to expand bilateral trade and investment.
Media Inquiries: Mr Crean's office 02 6277 7420 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555