LUXEMBOURG
Turkey’s Economy Minister, Nihat Zeybekci on Thursday has obtained the promise of support from Luxembourg for important issues in Turkey's bid for EU admission.
Zeybekci spoke with Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider during the second-term meeting of the Turkey-Luxemburg Joint Economic and Trade Committee, about obtaining EU visa exemption and other key issues.
Zeybekci said that he is grateful to have Luxembourg’s full support in Turkey’s bid for EU accession.
“Turkey does not have a visa problem with the EU. But the EU has a visa problem with Turkey. We permit all EU citizens to cross Turkey borders, in and out. The EU is the one who impose restrictions. I believe that, since we have already signed readmission agreements, there is not an obstacle to visa exemption,” Zeybekci said.
Regarding the proposed EU-US free trade agreement, The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Zeybekci said that Turkey should be included in the agreement automatically or should sign a parallel agreement with U.S. since the agreement would give U.S. privileged access to the Turkish market. Turkey would not have such access to the U.S. market.
“It would mean that the giant U.S. industry and services sectors would get into Turkey’s market, but we could not do the same in the U.S. Can the EU accept such an agreement?” he asked.
Turkey’s concerns about the proposed EU-US free trade agreement are completely understood by Luxembourg, Schneider said.
Trade volume between two countries is well below its potential, Schneider warned. He plans to make a visit to Turkey in February of next year to further improve trade ties between two economies.
Schneider promised the full support of his country for Turkey’s EU bid, and also on the visa exemption issue. He said that these issues would be priorities of Luxembourg’s EU presidency term which begins in second half of next year.
The two officials also signed a number of protocols for cooperation at the meeting -- specific details were not disclosed.
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