Above: President Obama holds a press conference with Prime Minister Erdogan. To read the transcript, click here.
TUSIAD President Muharrem Yilmaz made the following statement regarding Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington, DC.
“Prime Minister Erdogan and the Turkish business delegation concluded a very productive visit to Washington, D.C. The statement by President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan on improving U.S. – Turkey economic ties was significant. The United States and Turkey decided to establish a bilateral High Level Committee with the ultimate objective of continuing to deepen economic relations and liberalize trade and we find this to be very important. This effort will accelerate the improvement of bilateral economic relations and will constitute the first steps of a future free trade agreement between Turkey and the United States. But this is only a first step. We believe that Turkey should not be left out of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The business world led by TUSIAD is continuing its efforts with that goal in mind. Turkey needs to be a part of the transatlantic economic partnership that will ultimately reshape the global economic order.
Having established a Representative Office in Washington, D.C. 15 years ago, TUSIAD has contributed to the deepening of the U.S. – Turkey relationship. The long-standing partnership between TUSIAD and The Brookings Institution, a leading U.S. think tank, has supported this goal. In this framework we were very pleased that Prime Minister Erdogan spoke at The Brookings Institution during his trip to Washington. TUSIAD will effectively continue to support The Brookings Institution and the program directed by Professor Kemal Kirisci, in an effort to further improve U.S. – Turkey relations.”