Main Export Items from Turkey: Marble and travertine, chromium, copper, lead, iron, natural borate ores, boric oxide, boric acid
Main Import Items to Turkey: Automatic data processing machines, wireless telephone devices, toys, audio-visual devices, cruise/ merchant ships.
People’s Republic of China is Turkey’s first trade partner in East Asia and second import partner after Russian Federation in 2019.
The 16th meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) between Turkey and China was held on 27 September 2009 in Beijing.
The Turkish-Chinese Business Council, which was established in 1992. The last Business Council meeting was held on 29-30 July 2015 in Beijing, on the occasion of the visit of President Erdoğan’s visit to China.
The process of the export of Turkish agricultural and food products to Chinese market is on track. In this context, protocols about milk and dairy products, cherry and pistachio were signed during the G-20 Antalya in 2015 and Hangzhou Summits in 2016.
Chinese investments in Turkey are around 2 billion USD in total. Sectoral allocation of investments is as follows: energy, infrastructure, logistic, finance, diving, telecommunication and livestock.
A swap agreement between Central Banks of Turkey and China was signed in 2012 and renewed in 2015 for 3 years. First withdrawal and usage of cash flow in the context of swap agreement was realized in 2016. Swap agreement has been renewed in May 2019.
Turkey supports China initiated “Belt and Road” Project, which consist of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. Located at a key position in this initiative, Turkey aims to realize “Trans Hazar- Middle Corridor” Project, complementing the North Line from China to Europe and opening a new connecting corridor between China and Europe. In this regard, to align “Belt and Road” Initiative with “Middle Corridor” Project, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 1 st of July, 2016 before the G20 Hangzhou Summit. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, a main component of the Middle Coridor, was officially inaugurated on 30 October 2017. H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey attended the inauguration ceremony held in Baku.
Turkey considers tourism as a potential area for further developing economic and cultural relations with the PRC. Chinese tourists are strengthening ties between Turkish and Chinese people. 2018 has been celebrated as the Turkish Tourism Year in China. The number of Chinese tourists travelling to Turkey reached up to 394.000 with a %60 increase in 2018. In 2019, 427.000 Chinese tourists visited Turkey.
Turkish Airlines has seven flights from İstanbul to Pekin, Guanco and Shanghai, three flights to Xi’an and six flights to Hong Kong weekly.
Sichuan Airlines started its Chengdu-Istanbul flights on April 30, 2019. After commencing the operation of its Beijing-İstanbul route in December 2018, China Southern Airlines launched its Wuhan-İstanbul flights on May 29, 2019.
Increasing the frequency of flights to China and adding new destinations to flight network will develop economic, trade and tourism relations with China, as well as deepen interaction among people.