Sabah - Talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Türkiye and Singapore will soon commence on a ministerial level, as per the decision reached by Türkiye’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting the Southeast Asian country and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong.
Stating that the two countries were intent on building closer trade and business ties, “We have taken the first steps towards free trade between our countries. Talks on an FTA will begin between the economy ministers of Türkiye and Singapore”, Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Loong.
“Singapore is an important partner for Türkiye in reaching the Asia-Pacific region. We expect Turkish and Singaporean businessmen to jointly work in third countries”, Türkiye’s Prime Minister said, adding that the two countries shared similar traits such as being strategic gateways to their respective regions.
Noting that investments from Singapore were mainly focused on Türkiye’s finance sector, Erdogan said that Türkiye presented ample opportunities in a variety of fields, calling on to Singaporean companies to form partnerships with Turkish companies in the country’s large scale infrastructure and energy projects.
“Trade between Türkiye and Singapore reached USD 1.2 billion in 2012”, Erdogan said, adding that the two countries should set the bilateral trade target to USD 5 billion.
Following Japan and Singapore, Prime Minister Erdogan will visit Malaysia on the last leg of his Far East tour.