Senior EU official meets TOBB head in Turkey

EU Commissioner for Enlargement & Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele said Monday that the customs union agreement helped increase the trade volume between Turkey and EU three folds since its implementation, regarding it as a "success story".

Fuele told a joint press conference with Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the President of Union of Turkey's Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), that the current trade volume between Turkey and EU was around 100 billion Euro.

He said EU was Turkey's largest trade partner and Turkey was EU's 7th biggest trade partner.

"When you look at these figures, you can see that it is a success story, one we can be proud of," said Fuele.

In his part Hisarciklioglu said he communicated problems regarding EU's visa regime towards Turkey, transportation quotas, and free trade agreements and asked for Fuele's help.

He said the EU needed to show greater political will and leadership for promotion of Turkey and EU relations.

Fuele promised to do his best to address the concerns voiced by Hisarciklioglu.

He said the EU Commission was doing its best to address the issues in free trade and visa regime.


/World Bulletin/