ANKARA: Turkey and the U.K. will provide co-financing for various projects and contracts within the scope of an agreement aiming to strengthen commercial cooperation and increasing investment between the two countries.
The U.K. Export Finance Agency (UKEF) and its counterpart in Turkey, Eximbank, signed an agreement on Wednesday, with the U.K. government increasing its support for the British companies trading with Turkey. This cooperation is taking place in an environment where UKEF provides additional resources of 1.7 billion pounds to the UK companies that have exported to Turkey and to Turkish investors who have bought goods and services from the U.K., by doubling its support for exports to Turkey by 3.5 billion pounds. In addition, UKEF financing is now available in Turkish Lira (TL) as well as in 40 other currencies, and it provides Turkish companies with the convenience of purchasing British products by using their own currencies. Greg Hands, U.K. Minister of State for International Trade, said this partnership is an important support for their commercial relations and for their companies in both countries, stressing that working together with Turkey to ensure that British and Turkish exporters sign agreements and increasing the support they provide to British companies doing business with Turkey will offer new opportunities for them not only in Turkey but all over the world.
Eximbank General Manager Adnan Yıldırım, expressed their excitement about the said partnership, noting that the opportunity to build stronger ties between the U.K. and Turkish firms will bring tremendous benefits to the ongoing growth and prosperity of both countries. The UK and Turkey had a trade volume of 11.9 billion pounds in 2016, which corresponds to a 70 percent increase compared to 2009 figures. In July, Turkish exports to the U.K. registered a 37 percent increase in July and reached $775 million. Turkey mostly exported carpet, acclimation products, textile, mining products, machinery and machinery components, fresh fruits, furniture and automobile.
