Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has placed particular emphasis on Turkey-US relations and his close dialogue with US President Donald Trump, speaking at an event in New York marking 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Erdoğan described his dialogue with Trump as “particularly close” and linked political cooperation between Ankara and Washington to stronger trade and defence ties.
He said the two countries had made significant progress across a range of areas, attributing part of that progress to his personal dialogue with Trump.
“Thanks to the contribution of the sincere and exceptional dialogue we have with my valued friend, President Trump, we have made and continue to make significant progress in all areas of our relations,” Erdoğan said.
He added that Trump’s visit to Ankara in July, following their meeting in Washington last year, had “clearly confirmed and strengthened” the two countries’ alliance.
Energy and defence cooperation
Erdoğan said Ankara was ready to expand cooperation with Washington in energy, civil aviation and high technology, including nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
He also highlighted defence cooperation and the NATO framework.
“One of the traditionally strongest areas of our partnership, the defence industry, must be developed both bilaterally and within NATO,” he said.
“We now want to leave behind the obstacles that should not have existed between two allies in the first place and give our cooperation new momentum.”
Turkey seeks larger defence exports
Erdoğan also highlighted the growth of Turkey’s defence industry, saying the country had become an important player in the global defence market.
“Our share of global defence exports has increased by more than 120% compared with five years ago,” he said.
He added that Turkish companies now had the ability to invest in the United States and expressed confidence that Turkey would soon rank among the world’s 10 largest defence exporters.
“I believe that very soon we will be among the top 10 countries in the world in defence industry exports,” Erdoğan said.
He said deeper Turkey-US cooperation, including opportunities for co-production, would benefit both sides.
$100 billion trade target
Erdoğan linked closer political ties with efforts to strengthen economic relations, saying bilateral trade had doubled over the past decade.
“However, we need to intensify our efforts a little more,” he said.
He also argued that Turkey had maintained and strengthened its role as an “island of stability” despite crises and conflicts in the region.
Erdoğan highlights investment incentives
Erdoğan also referred to incentives introduced by the Turkish government for investors, saying the corporate tax rate for investments had been reduced from 25% to 12.5%.
“We tell investors: ‘Come and manage your operations from Turkey’,” he said.
He invited US investors to make use of opportunities in Turkey while acknowledging that obstacles remained on the path towards further strengthening Turkey-US relations.
Also read: UN General Assembly opens with Trump and world leaders’ talks in focus
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