Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) poses for a photo with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (L) prior to their meeting in London, UK on 8 July 2020 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]
Turkey and the UK are very close to signing a “free trade agreement” covering manufactured goods, agriculture and services for the post-Brexit era, Ankara’s foreign minister said yesterday, the Financial Times reports. According to the paper, Mevlut Cavusoglu said there were no differences over the deal between the two countries, but added that some technical issues needed to be finalised.
On Wednesday, Cavusoglu paid a one-day visit to London where he met Prime Minister Boris Johnson to talk on relations in the post-pandemic era, bilateral post-Brexit free trade agreements, cooperation in tourism, health tourism and defence industries, as well as other international and regional issues, including Libya, Syria and NATO.
Cavusoglu also met his counterpart, Dominic Raab. Last week, Britain’s Consul General in Istanbul, Judith Slater, said that the UK’s exit from the EU will not affect its appreciation of Turkey’s strategic value and relations will continue. “Our strategic bilateral relationship with Turkey will continue to be of great importance to the United Kingdom,” Slater said.
According to Financial Times, the UK is Turkey’s second-largest trade partner after Germany. There are more than 2,500 UK companies operating in Turkey including BP, Shell, Vodafone, Unilever, BAE Systems, HSBC, Aviva and Diageo. Turkey’s main exports to the UK are vehicles, white goods and clothes.
Source: Middle East Monitor