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Good evening.

I would like to thank Trade Commissioner in the European Commission, Mr.

Marojorie and his respected team for a very warm welcome to myself and my delegation since early morning today.

The Turkey-EU high-level trade dialogue is an important institution of our economic integration between the EU and Turkey. The other one is customs union.

Which is in operation for the last 30 years, since early 1996,

which was implemented under the Ankara Agreement,

the Association Agreement which was signed in 1963.

With the 3rd meeting of the high-level trade dialogue,

we come together with our delegations reciprocally to discuss many issues relating to the implementation of the customs union and any irritant issue which if they arise.

And We had a very productive, constructive, and comprehensive discussion,

and we will continue over the dinner for the rest of those issues.

Turkey and the EU share a very deep rooted partnership going back more than 60 years.

And a customs union that successfully functions for 30 years.

Over these decades, our economies have become Highly integrated and they had a very strong supply chain relationship over these years,

particularly thanks to the successful implementation of the customs union.

Today, Turkey is not just a trading partner for the EU.

Turkey is a strong,

indispensable part of the European production ecosystem and value chains.

The best example of the successful integration and high-level supply chain is in the automotive sector.

As Dear Commissioner Sevi explained,

Turkey and the EU are trading partners for each other.

For Turkey, the biggest trading partner is the European Union, and for the European Union,

Turkey is the 5th biggest trading partner with a total annual trade volume of €205 billion.

And if I may say that for the last 5 years,

Turkish EU total trade has reached €900 billion which is a huge amount of trade volume.

Also on investments,

the EU companies have a volume of over €200 billion in Turkey.

And Turkish enterprises have around €40 billion of investments within the EU member countries.

Our fundamental expectation is that the EU and its respective member countries embrace this reality.

Turkey therefore should be fully integrated into the EU's new industrial strategies rather than being excluded.

We see this high-level trade dialogue,

which we established 2.5 years ago, as a very important platform.

For strengthening the partnership, strong partnership between the EU and Turkey,

also to address existing problems and to develop new areas of cooperation,

in particular.

Thanks to the close and constructive working relationship we have established with Commissioner Šefčovič,

we have given fresh momentum to our trade dialogue.

We have constant connection to bring up issues, to discuss issues,

and to solve problems if they arise.

What matters is that we can discuss these issues very openly and we continue constructively to work together to find solutions.

Our dialogue based on mutual trust, open communication,

and a shared commitment to find solutions is extremely valuable for the future of our relations.

Our trade and economic relationship under the customs union is evolving with the green transformation and digital transformation which has been taking place in the EU. This brings both new opportunities and challenges.

We have already established close dialogue in these areas,

particularly through our working groups on CBAM, digital trade, and e-commerce.

Turkey has been complying with the CBM since earlier this year,

and we struck a deal with Commissioner Dekovic and his team on the new regime for Cil products trade as from 1 July.

And also we had agreement on the new regime for e-commerce as from 1 July.

Also, we have completed achievements on the adoption of machine regulation which will start to take effect early next year.

And we, as Turkey,

we also finished agreements on pan pan-European Mediterranean Pan Convention as well.

So we have made a lot of progress on the implementation of the customs union.

We should now extend this approach to other emerging areas,

and we should continue working together to address common challenges and to further strengthen our economic integration. Today, the EU and Turkey.

Have the capacity to lead the green and digital transitions and the shift to a circular economy and to secure the most resilient supply chains in our region.

We believe today's discussions have been very useful and fruitful.

And also we covered our work on public procurement deal.

Also, we had a thorough discussion on Industrial Accelerator Act.

We are very much glad to for the discussions which we have had this afternoon and evening. Between our delegations and bilaterally.

And we will keep very close and constant contact with Trade Commissioner,

Mr. Dekovic from now on again. I thank Mr.

Dekovic and his respected team once more for hosting the 3rd meeting of the high-level trade dialogue between the EU and Turkey.

And our goal is for successful implementation of customs union which will embrace the new developments between our relations.

Thank you very much.