In today’s fast-changing global economic and political landscape, the importance of strategic allies has become paramount. Fueled by accelerating technological advances and new economic paradigms, we are witnessing a period of rapid change with significant geopolitical shifts affecting our lives and livelihoods.
Such periods often bring unprecedented challenges to the status quo and can test the resolve of long-term economic partnerships. In this context, I strongly believe that it is essential and timely to augment our efforts towards enhancing the relationship between Türkiye and the United States, in a more comprehensive and effective way to create value for both sides. The agenda of the Türkiye-U.S. Business Council (TAIK), aims to serve this objective by improving our bilateral business and economic relations.
Although Türkiye and the U.S. may have different stances at times in the political sphere, our shared views on many regional and global issues as well as our long-standing alliance have served as a pillar of strength in maintaining positive momentum in our relations. Notably, economic and trade cooperation has been a key driving force behind this strong relationship, and I firmly believe there is substantial room to grow it further.
In this respect, it is very encouraging to see that our bilateral trade volume has significantly increased in the past decade, reaching $31 billion last year. It is important to note that unlike most trade partners, our trade grew throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, showing resilience and flexibility amidst external shocks. As TAIK, our goal is to build on this increasing level of cooperation, and constantly work together to identify specific areas of tangible potential where the common interests of both nations overlap. We are committed to our aspirational $100 billion bilateral trade goal between Türkiye and United States and believe that with the dedicated efforts of all stakeholders it will be achieved.
To achieve this goal, we continue to work with our business and public sector leaders and stakeholders across the globe. We also look forward to building on our collaboration with dedicated State Committees in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas, where our trend of trade has been steadily increasing and extremely promising for the near future.
Türkiye offers substantial investment and trade opportunities across a wide spectrum as it has demonstrated itself to be on the cutting edge of technological proficiency as well as a producer and marketplace for advanced industries. It also provides significant opportunities for U.S. companies seeking to diversify their global supply chains. There are already promising examples for regional cooperation in capturing trade flows in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia where Turkish and U.S. companies can work together and complement each other’s strengths.
Türkiye’s adherence to rule-based and transparent economic policies in line with international norms has also encouraged many portfolio investors, putting Türkiye back on their radar. As a result, the United States, home to the world's largest funds, has clearly shown an increased interest in Türkiye in recent months.
TAIK is planning several initiatives to strengthen Türkiye’s economic relations and promote it as an investment destination. Türkiye Investment Conference, which takes place annually in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly, is one of our brand events. We bring together Turkish President H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the prominent American investors in an exclusive roundtable-meeting while on the second day, the leading Turkish conglomerates meet the financial investors at our Investment Conference co-hosted by Goldman Sachs. The other TAİK brand event is the Turkish-American Conference (ATC), which has been taking place in Washington D.C. since day one of TAİK’s establishment, and seen as one of the anchors of decades-old Turkish-American alliance. In cooperation with our ATC partner U.S. Chamber of Commerce, we aim to demonstrate the potential of bilateral political and economic cooperation and take existing relations to the next level.
With its strong membership base of leading companies and its alliances across relevant public and private stakeholders, TAIK has the established experience to serve as a platform for accelerating strategic partnerships, facilitating both trade and economic relations. To this end, we have established six Task Forces as below:
- $100 Billion Trade
- 2 Million Tourist
- Third Country Partnership
- Digital
- Select USA
- Select Türkiye
These task forces are creating platforms for exchange and addressing the most important issues and opportunities in our strategy for the coming period.
TAIK aims to strengthen Turkish-American relations in cooperation with its partners, including the U.S. Chamber and AmCham Türkiye. TAİK’s main counterpart organization in the is American Turkish Business Roundtable (ATBR), led by former National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones.
As the Türkiye-U.S. Business Council, we believe that the promising future of even closer cooperation between the United States and Türkiye will benefit our business communities, and look forward to the engagement of our member companies and stakeholders.
Murat Özyeğin
Türkiye – U.S. Business Council (TAIK) Chairman
