Turkish officials meet American diplomats in D.C. to discuss economic partnership

Turkish and American diplomats Thursday met for the eleventh U.S.-Turkey Economic Partnership Commission (EPC) meeting and discussed the wide range issues including negotiations over Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

Parties also talked about Turkey's goals as G20 president, Turkey's five year energy strategy and collaboration in regions of interest, including sub-Saharan Africa, the Caucasus and the Central Asia.

A joint statement by United States and Turkey Friday said that the meeting focused on exploring ways to expand bilateral trade and investment, identifying opportunities for commercial cooperation in third countries and strengthening collaboration in science, technology, energy, and global health.

"The EPC is as a key component of Turkish-American efforts to bolster the economic partnership between two countries, as outlined in the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation", the statement added.

Then prime minister, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and President Barack Obama signed the Framework for Strategic Economic & Commercial Cooperation (FSECC) in 2009 in a bid to increase investment and trade flow between the two countries.

Latest data had showed that Turkish exports to the U.S. have skyrocketed over the past five years, reaching an astounding $6.3 billion in 2014, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Turkey's exports to the U.S. has increased over 12 percent in 2014, making it the sixth biggest purchaser of Turkish goods last year.

However, the U.S. still enjoys a large surplus of more than $6 billion and Turkey needs to do more to reduce the slowly shrinking trade deficit between the two countries. Turkey's imports from the U.S. rose by only 1 percent to $12.7 billion in last year.

Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H. Rivkin led the United States delegation, which included representatives of the Departments of State, Commerce, Energy, Agriculture, Export-Import Bank, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and U.S. Trade Representative.

Ambassador Emre Yunt, Director General for Multilateral Trade Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the Turkish delegation.