The 3rd Turkey-China Economic Conference organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), Turkish Industrialists and Business Association (TÜSİAD) and China International Trade Promotion Council (CCPIT) at a hotel in Istanbul was held with the participation of Minister Bolat.
At the conference where the 4th China International Supply Chain Fair was presented, a cooperation agreement was signed between “DEİK and CCPIT”, “TÜSİAD and CCPIT”, China International Expo Center (CIEC) and ATA Holding.
In his speech here, Minister Bolat recalled that the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and China was celebrated and stated that the event and promotion of the 4th China International Supply Chain Fair would make a great contribution to the relations between the two countries.
Bolat stated that in their meetings with the Chinese delegation before the conference, they discussed the issues of the development of economic relations between Turkey and China in all areas and that it was a sincere and constructive meeting in discussing mutual issues and expectations.
Pointing out that the world economy and trade are in a difficult period, Bolat said: “Last year was a year of severe shocks in the world's political, military, economic, monetary and trading systems. The difficulties faced by world trade, the engine of the world economy, are known to everyone.” he said.
“We need trade to increase the economic well-being of the world’s people.”
Ömer Bolat emphasized that the global economy grew by 3.2 percent last year according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pointing out that growth of 3.1 percent is forecast for this year.
Bolat indicated a weak growth forecast of 0.6 percent this year, compared to 2.5 percent growth last year for global trade, and said: “We hope that the insights and forecasts in the coming months will be above this rate. We need trade to increase the economic well-being of the world's people.” gave his assessment.
Recalling that, according to the United Nations Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD), global direct investment will be about $1.5 trillion in 2024-2025, Bolat said: “Supply chains are being reshaped. Costs and risks are increasing. There is also a serious regression in terms of predictability. Our duty in this sense is to advance a predictable, regularly functioning global trading system.” made the statement.
“We see that total trade between Turkey and China was $53 billion last year.”
Minister Bolat stated that last year the Turkish economy reached a national income of $1.5 trillion for the first time in its history, pointing out that the national income per capita exceeded about $18,000.
Recalling that the total export of goods and services reached $397 billion, Bolat said: “We see that the total trade between Turkey and China reached $53 billion last year. Here, especially in foreign trade, we offered our Chinese partners to fill this gap, especially in view of the large surplus in favor of China.” he said.
Explaining that they are proposing a structural change to close the foreign trade deficit between Turkey and China, Bolat said: “Our serious negotiations continue at this point. Our aim is not to restrict trade, on the contrary, to make Türkiye more visible in the Chinese market, increase its share, ensure product diversity, create the structural foundations of balanced trade in high value-added products, with a win-win principle. The fact that Türkiye's exports to China around 32 percent increased to 335 million.” dollar in the first month of this year makes us confident about the steps we have taken in this regard. “makes it possible.” he said.
“1,419 Chinese companies operate in Turkey”
Explaining that in his opinion there are some opportunities between Türkiye and China, both unilaterally and through joint investments, Ömer Bolat said: “About 1465 Turkish companies are investing from Türkiye to China.” gave the information.
Stating that 1,419 Chinese companies operate in Türkiye, Bolat said, “There is an investment volume of $175 million from Türkiye to China and $3.2 billion from China to Türkiye.” he said.
Pointing out that there are significant Chinese investments in finance, energy, services, transportation and telecommunications, Bolat said that China has a total volume of direct investments in the world of $3.1 trillion and that its investments in Turkey could accordingly be much higher.
“Last year 425,000 Chinese citizens visited Türkiye”
Stating that there are opportunities for strong cooperation and partnerships between Turkish and Chinese industries at the point of supply chain, Bolat said: “In this sense, as a leading grassroots organization of the Chinese business community, I firmly believe that CCPIT will promote cooperation in this regard.” he said.
Bolat pointed out that the Belt and Road Project is rapidly becoming an important area of cooperation in transportation and connectivity, pointing out that Türkiye has great expectations for China in the field of tourism.
Stating that 425,000 Chinese citizens visited Türkiye last year, Bolat said: “This is only 1 percent of the total number of tourists that China sends to the world annually. We would like to express that the Chinese tourist mass will also contribute to the economic relations between the two countries and that Chinese tourists will be pleased to get to know our Turkey. There is constructive cooperation between the two countries in terms of air connections and increasing the number of flight frequencies.” he said.
Trade Minister Bolat concluded his words as follows:
“We will be able to see more Chinese tourists in Türkiye in the coming period. There may also be an influx of passengers from Türkiye to China. There is also great potential in transit flights. Turkey has introduced a visa waiver for Chinese citizens from January 2, 2026 in order to increase the number of Chinese tourists. We expect our Chinese partners to provide similar facilitation to the Turkish business community in the field of visas.”
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