Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds and Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security Douglas Alexander met today in London [Wednesday 7 May] with their Turkish counterparts, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and Deputy Minister of Trade, Mustafa Tuzcu, to discuss how to grow the UK economy by boosting trade. 

The UK and Turkey have a strong economic relationship, with trade between the two totalling around £28 billion in 2024, making Turkey the UK’s 16th largest trading partner, with UK companies already exporting £9.3 billion of goods and services to its growing market of 86 million people.  

Ministers affirmed the importance and strength of the UK-Turkey trading bilateral relationship, committed to continue to pursue closer cooperation and increased trade and investment, and underlined the importance of defending free trade.  

They also confirmed their intention for the first round of Free Trade Agreement negotiations to take place by the end of July.  

Ministers concluded the meeting by signing an upgraded Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) chapter, in the form of an amendment to the 2020 UK-Turkey Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This chapter closely aligns UK-Turkey TBT provisions with those found in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), reducing costs and making it easier for businesses to trade.  

Background 

• The UK is the second largest services exporter in the world, but in 2024 only 34% of our exports to Turkey were services. 

• UK exports to Turkey directly supported around 57,100 jobs across the UK in 2020, more than 68% of which were in services. 

• More than 7,800 UK companies currently export goods to Turkey (2024). 

• Turkey’s economy is currently the 17th largest in the world. By 2050 is expected to be the 12th-largest in the world and the fourth largest in Europe. 

• The Turkish company, Eren Holding Group, recently invested £1 billion in the redevelopment of Shotton Mill in Deeside, North Wales. This investment is set to safeguard 147 jobs and create a further 220. The project is supported by nearly £13 million from the Welsh Government and £136 million from UK Export Finance.