Türkiye and the United Kingdom are heading towards a Full Free Trade Agreement…
July 18, 2025
TRADE NEWS
Summary: The first round of negotiations between Turkey and the United Kingdom on updating the Free Trade Agreement has been successfully completed, with agreement reached on expanding the scope and strengthening cooperation. Click here for the full text of the announcement published by the Ministry...
First Round of Negotiations Completed – Free Trade Agreement
Preparing for a New Era
The strategic economic cooperation between Turkey and the United Kingdom is gaining new and strong momentum. During the official visit of the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Ömer BOLAT, to London in May, the first round of negotiations on updating the Turkey-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (FTA), initiated in line with the agreement reached with his counterpart in the United Kingdom, was successfully completed.
The negotiations, held in Ankara with the high-level participation of relevant institutions from both countries and which were extremely productive, addressed many critical issues with the aim of deepening the scope of the FTA.
Expanded Scope – Strengthened Cooperation
With the updated FTA:
- New mutual market openings will be provided for agricultural products,
- Comprehensive provisions will be included to establish a mutually beneficial cooperation environment between the two countries regarding trade in services; within this scope, opportunities will be explored, including Islamic finance in the field of financial services, and service sectors where our country is competitive, such as health services and audiovisual services, will be considered,
- Possible joint steps to facilitate investments will be discussed,
- Mutual recognition of geographically indicated products will be ensured,
- Awareness-raising steps will be taken for SMEs.
- Areas of cooperation will be specified in the fields of innovation, consumer protection, and women's economic empowerment.
- The sustainable development dimension of trade will be reflected in environmental and labor issues.
- Customs procedures will be simplified in both traditional and digital channels as part of trade facilitation.
Roadmap Prepared with Strong Joint Will
The mutual strong will to complete the STA as soon as possible in a way that contributes to the prosperity of both countries was reaffirmed during the negotiations.
The annual trade volume between the two countries reached $22 billion in 2024, with the United Kingdom becoming our country's 7th largest trading partner.
With a foreign trade surplus of $8 billion, the United Kingdom stands out as our second largest trading partner with which we have the highest trade surplus.
In this context, with a population of 69 million, the UK market offers strong demand for our country's products and maintains its importance as a strategic economic partner supporting employment in Turkey.
The next round of negotiations between Turkey and the United Kingdom is targeted to take place by the end of 2025, and the constructive and determined dialogue process is paving the way for the FTA to be concluded as a new generation agreement.