Turkish Trade Delegation to Colombia Concluded Successfully

The goal is to increase the trade volume between Türkiye and Colombia to $5 billion

As part of the Ministry of Trade's strategy for far away countries, Turkish exporters visited Colombia with a delegation of 25 companies from March 27th to 30th, 2023. Türkiye Exporters Assembly and Aegean Exporters' Associations together ended the first quarter of the year with the Colombian Trade Delegation.

During the opening remarks of the delegation Ambassador Beste Pehlivan Sun of Türkiye in Colombia stated that Türkiye is very eager to develop trade with Colombia and that the Target Markets Strategy and Distant Countries Strategy that the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye has put forward for 2023 coincide with the Colombian market. The Ambassador also noted that the Free Trade Agreement process needs to be resumed to increase the trade volume between Türkiye and Colombia to $5 billion.

Aegean Exporters' Association (EİB)

Coordinator Chairman Jak Eskinazi, who also chaired the Colombian Trade Delegation, emphasized that 25 Turkish companies held 220 bilateral business meetings in Bogota with 62 Colombian firms, and that Turkish and Colombian business people took the first concrete step to increase Trade volume between the two countries to $5 billion. Eskinazi also stated that 2023 is a very valuable time period in terms of being the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye and that they have set their goal for 2023 as "maintaining the present."

Prieto: "We will revitalize trade between the two countries"

German Prieto, a representative from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia, expressed his satisfaction with the partnership that will revitalize and strengthen the commercial ties between the two countries, which will gain momentum due to the bilateral business negotiations of Turkish and Colombian businessmen.

Prieto emphasized that Colombia and Türkiye have expertise in different fields, stating that "Turkish business people have come to our country to exchange knowledge in many areas such as agriculture, science and technology, tourism, and sports and have achieved successful results. Thus, progress has been made to implement the Free Trade Agreement used to promote and strengthen bilateral relations. Colombia wants to focus its trade policy with Türkiye on collaboration and investment agendas for global value chain integration, diversified and standardized agro-industrial export proposals, energy transition, sustainability, and tourism capacity building. There will be interactions on topics such as applying the best practices for road projects, knowledge transfer for project strengthening, sustainable and innovative practices, and analysis of successful sustainable projects carried out in Türkiye."

The Chairman of the Aegean Apparel Exporters' Association, Burak Sertbaş, shared the information that they organized the "Colombia Trade Delegation" within the scope of the Ministry of Trade's Target Markets Strategy and Far Away Countries Strategy, in coordination with the Türkiye Exporters Assembly. Sertbaş summarized the activities of the Turkish delegation within the scope of the "Colombia Trade Delegation" as follows: "On Tuesday, March 27th, information seminars about the Colombian market were held with the participation of Muhammet Hartavi, Türkiye's Trade Counselor in Bogota, Soraya Caro, Advisor to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Colombia, and experts from Procolombia. Following the information seminar, we conducted supermarket visits for market research as the Turkish delegation."

Sertbaş explained that the "Colombia Trade Delegation" included Selim Ecirli, THY Director in Bogota and Ecuador, and Maria Monica Conde Barragan, Vice President of International Relations and Collaborations at the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, and continued: "25 Turkish companies went to Colombia and signed 220 bilateral meetings with 62 Colombian firms. Representatives from major supermarket chains such as Alkosto and Olimpica, as well as buyers from various sectors, participated in the meetings. As the Turkish delegation, we also visited the Colombian Businessmen Association Fenalco. We reached a consensus with Eduardo Visbal, Vice President of Fenalco, on balancing foreign trade between Türkiye and Colombia and reaching a trade volume of 5 billion dollars."