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Blog Category: Turkey

Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank Wrapped up Her Visit to Turkey with Concrete Steps to Advance the U.S-Turkish Commercial Relationship

Submitted on June 28, 2012 - 11:00am
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Acting Secretary Blank Co-Chairs the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of the Economy Zafer Caglayan

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank wrapped up her visit to Turkey after co-chairing the second meeting of the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation (FSECC) with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Ankara yesterday. The Turkish delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of the Economy Zafer Caglayan.

The FSECC was created following the first meeting between President Obama and Turkish President Gul in April 2009. The two leaders tasked the U.S. and Turkish governments to create a framework to help substantially increase the trade and investment flows between both countries to help strengthen the economic dimension of our partnership. The meeting focused on opportunities for increased bilateral trade and investment relations to create jobs in both countries, and the ministers agreed on several concrete steps to advance the U.S-Turkish commercial relationship. The Acting Secretary promoted increased Foreign Direct Investment, including calling for greater Turkish FDI to the U.S., highlighting Commerce’s SelectUSA initiative. The four principals made a joint statement after the meeting.

During the meeting, Acting Secretary Blank announced that the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration will lead an Aerospace and Defense Industry Trade Mission to Turkey in December 2012. She also applauded the work that has been done so far to increase bilateral trade between the U.S. and Turkey.  She emphasized the work that must be done to continue to advance the U.S.-Turkey trade relationship, such as overcoming market access barriers, furthering cooperation on intellectual property rights, and enabling businesses to take advantage of opportunities in key sectors such as renewable energy, financial services, and infrastructure.

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Acting Secretary Blank Encourages Turkish Investment to Create American Jobs

Submitted on June 25, 2012 - 2:00pm
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U.S.-Turkey

U.S. Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank visited Istanbul today to meet with U.S. and Turkish business leaders to advance commercial and trade relations between the United States and Turkey. This is the first visit to Turkey by a U.S. Commerce Secretary in 14 years.
 
Acting Secretary Blank, along with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, are leading a delegation of senior U.S. Government officials, including representatives from the Department of State, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.S. Export-Import Bank and the National Security Staff.
 
Throughout the meetings and events, Acting Secretary Blank highlighted President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan's goal of elevating our commercial relationship with Turkey to the strategic level, contributing to the peace and prosperity of citizens of both countries and the world.
 
Acting Secretary Blank and Ambassador Kirk met with U.S. companies that are active in the Turkish market to hear their views on the commercial environment in Turkey, and learn how the U.S. government can help grow their businesses, and support jobs and growth in Turkey and in the United States.

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Secretary Bryson Talks about Turkish-American Economic Cooperation

Submitted on April 5, 2012 - 2:45pm
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Secretary Bryson and Members of the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey

Today, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson delivered keynote remarks at a luncheon co-hosted by the Center for American Progress and the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON). The event, titled “Building on the Progress in Turkish-American Economic Cooperation,” comes at an exciting time in U.S.-Turkish relations, with bilateral trade reaching a record level of $20 billion this past year.

Turkey is the world’s-17th largest economy, and was the world’s second-fastest growing economy in 2011.

During his remarks, Bryson talked about the president’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports from 2010 to 2014. He noted that U.S. exports to Turkey have already doubled.

Over the past two years, the U.S. and Turkey have come together through the Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation. Secretary Bryson announced today that he plans to attend the next Framework meeting that will be held in Turkey in late June.

Secretary Bryson also emphasized the importance of stronger bilateral investment, including efforts such as SelectUSA.

Bryson ended his remarks by saying, “Let’s do everything possible to usher in a long and prosperous era–as the bonds between our two nations continue to grow in the 21st century.”

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Secretary Locke Discusses the U.S.-Turkey Trade Relationship

Submitted on March 14, 2011 - 1:30pm
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Secretary Locke Delivers a Keynote on Strengthening Turkish-American Economic Relations

Today, Secretary Locke delivered keynote remarks at an event jointly hosted by the Center for American Progress and the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON).  He discussed the U.S.-Turkey trade relationship and its importance for the strategic partnership between the two countries. Turkey and the United States conducted nearly $15 billion in bilateral trade last year – an almost 40% rise from the previous year, and the most trade ever between Turkey and the U.S. This trade was helped along by Turkey's impressive resilience in the wake of the global financial crisis. Last year, Turkey posted economic growth of over 7%.

To further our trade relationship, In December 2009, President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan launched a new strategic framework to strengthen our economic bonds, the Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation. The framework elevates the responsibility for increasing our economic dialogue to the highest levels of both our governments.

That framework has focused on enhancing our business-to-business ties and how we can promote innovation in both Turkey and the United States.  Particularly on issues like:

  • Promoting renewable energy;
  • Incentivizing more entrepreneurship;
  • Helping Istanbul fulfill its role as a European and global financial center; and
  • Empowering small and medium-size enterprises

To help meet those goals, the Department of Commerce plans to schedule two trade missions to Turkey later this year – one with U.S. oil and gas companies and another with renewable energy companies.

Read Secretary Locke’s full remarks.

Secretary Locke and Ambassador Kirk Welcome New Strategic Framework with Turkey

Submitted on December 7, 2009 - 4:00pm
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Secretary Locke, Ambassador and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan respond to press questions from the stage. Click for larger image.

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk inaugurated a new process of engagement with the government of Turkey on economic and trade issues. The new policy structure, to be known formally as the “Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation” (Framework), was unveiled on the occasion of the visit of Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House. (More)

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