1
The 6th WTO Trade Policy Review of Turkey (15 and 17 march 2016)
Statement by the Republic of Korea
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
First of all, on behalf of Korean delegation, let me express the deepest condolence to the Turkish people and Government on the horrible terrorist attack in Ankara.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to the delegation of Turkey led by Mr.
Hüsnü DİLEMRE, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy. My special thanks go as well to Ms Mariam MD Salleh (Malaysia) for her contribution as a discussant and to the Secretariat for its comprehensive and informative report.
(Economic Performance of Turkey)
It is noted that Turkey’s economy and trade continued to grow steadily over the review period even though it is experiencing an economic slowdown due to the doldrums of global trade and economy. Korea also take note of Turkey’s efforts to complete ratification of Trade Facilitation agreement, enlarge its FTAs with its trading partners such as Korea, and streamline its regulation of TBT and SPS.
As of now, Turkey is facing several challenges including geopolitical instability as mentioned in the Secretariat report. It is our hope that Turkey will address these challenges and achieve sustained economic growth by further reforming its economic system to increase its effectiveness under its plan “Vision 2023”.
(Bilateral Economic Relationship)
2
Mr. Chairman, during the review period, Turkey and Korea have established comprehensive and strong economic relations. In May of 2013, the FTA for goods between Turkey and Korea entered into force, and last year both countries agreed to expand the FTA to the field of investment and services.
Based on this close economic partnership, bilateral trade volume between the two countries has increased from 5.2 billion US dollars in 2012 to 7.3 billion dollars in 2014. Korea’s direct investment in Turkey has increased to 1.5 billion dollars and last year more than 250,000 Korean tourists visited Turkey.
Although trade figures show some imbalances, it is clear that Turkey and Korea are developing comprehensive and strong economic relations which take into account broader aspects including investment, employment, and tourism.
(Issues of Interest and Concern to Korea)
Let me now turn to some areas of particular interest and concern with respect to Turkey’s economic and trade policies and measures.
First, Korea would like to express its concern about the significant use of anti- dumping and safeguard measures by Turkey. Turkey is, following India and the U.S., the 3rd most frequent user of trade remedy measures against Korean exports. Turkey has initiated 16 investigations and imposed eleven anti- dumping and safeguard measures on Korean products.
Korea would like to kindly request Turkey to be more cautious in its use of trade remedy measures and to proceed with the relevant processes in a careful manner according to the WTO rules. In this context, Korea appreciates Turkey’s notification this March that the safeguard investigation on cellular phones has been terminated with no safeguard measure imposed.
Second, Korea welcomes Turkey’s effort to reform its economy by privatizing its SOEs. With respect to Türk Telecom, despite the announcement of its further
3
privatization, the Turkish state treasury still owns 30% of Türk Telecom’s shares. Considering Türk Telecom dominates 85% of the fixed telecommunication market, competition is not sufficient in the market.
Korea believes that further reform in this area would be needed for efficient and fair competition. In this regard, Korea would like to ask if Turkey has a plan to fully privatize Türk Telecom and also whether Turkey has developed any specific plans to promote more competition in the market.
(Turkey’s Leadership in the Multilateral Trading System) Mr. Chairman,
Last year, Turkey showed its leadership by hosting the G20 Antalya Leaders Summit very successfully. It is our hope that the same leadership will be replicated in the WTO and that Turkey will continue to play a role in strengthening multilateral trading systems.
With this, we would like to conclude by expressing our sincere appreciation to the Turkey delegation for its hard work and wish Turkey every success in its TPR. Thank you.
* * *
