'Turkey a highly valued market for Spanish companies'

ISTANBUL

Turkey is a highly valued market for Spanish companies, according to the head of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE).

The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent disruption in value chains made Turkey an attractive country, Marta Blanco said in an interview with Anadolu Agency.

She said Turkey is a strategic partner of the European Union, and serves as an excellent hub between European and Asian markets owing to its geostrategic location.

“Besides, thanks to its diversified economic structure and consolidated market institutions, as well as the Customs Union that it maintains with the EU since 1996, which facilitates tariff-free trade, the country benefits from a large number of competitive advantages,” she explained.

On economic relations between Turkey and Spain, she said trade and investments declined in 2020 due to the pandemic, but are expected to rebound strongly in 2021.

Spain has an investment stock of more than €5 billion ($5.8 billion) in Turkey, while its imports from Turkey increased from about €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2010 to around €7.6 billion ($8.8 billion) by 2019, according to Blanco.

“The investment and trade data shows a clear growing interest of Spanish companies in Turkish products and its market,” she added.

She said Turkey offers several incentives for foreign firms, such as tax reductions and exemptions, and also boasts a strong record in terms of legal framework and stability.

“Turkey is among the world’s 20 largest economies and aims to be one of the world’s top 10 economies by 2050,” she said.

Blanco pointed out that Turkey’s various free trade agreements with several countries in Asia, the Middle East, and the Maghreb region help reduce logistical costs.

“It is important to keep in mind that there are areas that are not included in the Customs Union agreement and others where there exist non-tariff barriers,” she said.

“In order to boost trade between Turkey and Spain, the terms of the agreement could be modernized and adapted to the current reality to remove obstacles for bilateral trade.”

* Writing by Gokhan Ergocun