Trade Minister Ömer Bolat attended the “Türkiye-Japan CEO Round Table Meeting” in Tokyo, which is located within the scope of Osaka EXPO 2025.
Speaking at the meeting, which includes representatives of the two countries, Bolat reminded that diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Japan this year are the 101th anniversary. Pointing out that Türkiye and Japan have completed each other, Bolat said that Japan is one of the world’s leading actors in innovation, advanced technology and precision engineering.
Bolat pointed out that Türkiye has proved itself as a “regional center” in production and logistics with the possibility of access to markets such as Europe, Asia and Africa, and that the trade volume of the two countries reached 5.4 billion dollars as of last year.
Türkiye’s exports to Japan last year recorded last year, the 11.4 percent increase in expressing that they welcomed Bolat, the structural imbalance in trade is still an important problem, he said. Bolat emphasized that they are determined to eliminate this imbalance and create a more sustainable trade structure and made the following evaluations:
“The Turkey-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which is at the center of this effort, is still under negotiation. The agreement will be a strategic tool in terms of diversification and balancing of trade, increasing investments and establishing a real ‘win-win’ partnership.
“We invite Japanese investors to invest more in our country”
Bolat said that Japanese companies have direct investments exceeding $ 3.1 billion in the Turkish economy and that 275 Japanese companies are currently operating in Türkiye.
Bolat pointed out that they are proud to host many Japanese companies that are known worldwide in many sectors, from automotive to energy, from chemicals to food processing industry, and continued:
“In Japan’s direct foreign investment portfolio exceeding $ 2 trillion worldwide, I must regret that Türkiye’s share remains at a low level of only 0.11 percent. Therefore, Japanese investors, to explore the increasing potential of our country, and especially the manufacturing industry, green and clean energy, electric vehicle ecosystem, digital industries and smart cities and smart cities such as infrastructure and intelligent areas such as strategic and transport On the other hand, we see that there is an important field of cooperation in the contractor projects in third countries.
Bolat stated that Turkish and Japanese companies have achieved significant success in prestigious studies such as Dubai Metro, Yeni Doha International Airport and Hamad Airport Expansion Project.
Bolat also pointed out the role of Japanese companies in the infrastructure projects in Türkiye, “Bosphorus bridges, Marmaray Tunnel and still ongoing Fatih Sultan Mehmet (FSM) Bridge rehabilitation works, Japan’s country’s development of the permanent contributions to the development of only a few examples.” he said.
Bolat also called for the Turkish business world to deepen cooperation and create new joint initiatives.
