Foreign Desk Report
ANKARA/LONDON: Britain and Turkey are set to sign a free trade deal on Tuesday (today), the UK trade ministry said, the first since Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a new trade agreement with the European Union.
The two nations will sign a deal that replicates the existing trading terms between Ankara and London, but British trade minister Liz Truss said that she was hopeful a bespoke deal between the countries could be struck soon.
“The deal we expect to sign this week locks in tariff free trading arrangements and will help support our trading relationship. It will provide certainty for thousands of jobs across the UK in the manufacturing, automotive and steel industries,” Truss said in a statement.
“We now look forward to working with Turkey towards an ambitious tailor-made UK-Turkey trade agreement in the near future.” The trading relationship was worth $25.25 billion in 2019, and Britain said it was the fifth biggest trade deal the trade ministry had negotiated after agreements with Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Norway.
Britain has now signed trade agreements with 62 countries ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period on Jan 1, when it leaves the EU’s trading arrangements. It clinched its narrow trade deal with the EU, its biggest trading partner, last week. Turkey welcomed the deal last week and said the preparations for the signing of the free trade agreement between the UK and Turkey have also reached their final stage.
Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan on Sunday said Ankara was following the Brexit process “minute by minute” in order to enact its FTA with the U.K. “Our aim is to sign the agreement as soon as possible,” Pekcan said.
