Positive atmosphere between Turkey and Greece expected to give momentum to commercial relations
During the upcoming visit, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will address bilateral economic and trade relations. Relations between Turkey and Greece hold potential for cooperation in various fields such as health, environment, culture and arts, tourism, economy, and trade. Additionally, the “positive agenda” initiative launched in 2021, aimed at boosting commercial relations, is further strengthened through mutual visits and cooperation agreements.
Mutual direct investment advantages
Both Turkey and Greece offer attractive tourism destinations and hold global significance in terms of trade and energy shipments, presenting mutual advantages for direct investment, which emerge as major opportunities in the economic realm for Turkey. In this context, tomorrow’s visit holds significance for strengthening bilateral relations.
Targeting $10 billion in trade volume
Last year, Turkey exported $2.61 billion worth of goods to Greece, while importing $1.495 billion worth of products from Greece. Thus, the foreign trade volume exceeded $4.1 billion last year, with the goal of reaching $10 billion.
Iron and steel led exports with $246.74 million by the end of 2023. This was followed by “motor vehicles, tractors, bicycles, motorcycles, and other land vehicles, their parts, accessories” with $233.58 million and “plastics and their products” with $210.99 million.
During the same period, Turkey imported $553.33 million worth of “mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation, bituminous substances, mineral waxes” from Greece. This was followed by $214.3 million worth of cotton, cotton yarn, and cotton fabrics.
Greek tourist arrivals exceeded 168,000 in the first quarter
With tourism activities picking up after the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek citizens’ visits to Turkey have also increased. During the January-March period of 2022, 71,490 tourists visited Turkey, marking an 83.84% increase compared to the same period last year when the number was 131,424.
Greek citizens’ interest in visiting Turkey continued in the first quarter of this year as well. During this period, the number of tourists increased by 28.38% compared to the same period last year, reaching 168,724.
