Message from His Excellency Turan Moral, Turkey‘s Ambassador to Ireland: Turkey has been pursuing a continuous economic reform process. Export oriented policies and structural reforms are among the main characteristics of the Turkish economy. As part of this process, Turkey has been experiencing a remarkable progress in terms of foreign trade as both exports and imports have grown rapidly and noteworthy changes in the structure of exports have taken place. Turkeys commitment to the rules and disciplines of the WTO as the founding member of it and the customs union she has with the EU since 1996 are the two major elements that have shaped her foreign trade policy. Moreover, the official negotiations for a full membership of Turkey to the EU commenced in 2005.

The EU countries have traditionally had a dominant share in Turkeys s foreign trade as well as foreign investments in Turkey. However, it is hardly possible to say that the existing level of bilateral trade between Turkey and Ireland is satisfactory. Although it is rather pleasant to see that our bilateral trade is increasing continuously, I believe every effort should be exerted to enhance the existing volume of commercial and economic relations on a mutually beneficial basis In this regard, it should be noted that the completion of the legal framework of the Turkish-Irish commercial and economic relations is important. Efforts should be directed towards finalizing this legal framework as it would stimulate our bilateral relations. I believe that there is a huge potential to be exploited by our businessmen to increase the trade and investment volume between our countries. Therefore we need to encourage our business people to get to know each others markets better and to explore the potential fields to join their forces for competing in the world markets in cooperation. Considering the necessity and importance of the private sector activities in further promoting bilateral trade and economic relations, extra attention should be paid to the Business Council meetings, which will create a suitable platform for the exchange of information between our businessmen, develop cooperation among the business communities of our countries and help to increase awareness concerning the opportunities that Turkey and Ireland present. Attending international fairs and exhibitions organized in our countries is another opportunity for the companies to get a close look at and to explore the likely areas for collaboration in the relevant sectors in each others markets. As there is so much that can be done in order to bring the current relations up to more satisfactory levels, I will be pleased to work with the Association and its members to achieve our targets.