Economy
Türkiye, Belgium push for stronger defense, trade, investment links
Top Turkish and Belgian officials on Monday highlighted “significant” opportunities to deepen economic cooperation in defense, technology, logistics and green energy, while reaffirming their goal of significantly increasing bilateral trade.
The remarks came during a business forum in Istanbul attended by more than 400 private-sector representatives as part of an economic mission led by Belgium’s Queen Mathilde. Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has described it as the largest international delegation visit to Türkiye to date.
Queen Mathilde, later Monday, was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said recent regional developments have once again highlighted the geopolitical importance of Türkiye-EU relations, according to a statement released by the Communications Directorate.
During the talks that covered bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues, Erdoğan also stressed updating the customs union in line with current conditions is “a key area necessitating swift progress” on the path toward Türkiye’s full EU membership.
At the forum, officials highlighted opportunities to expand cooperation in areas including defense, technology, green transition and logistics. They also emphasized the importance of modernizing the Türkiye-EU Customs Union and Türkiye’s role as a production and logistics hub for European markets.
The delegation also included Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot and Defense Minister Theo Francken, who is also responsible for foreign trade.
The bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and Belgium reached $9.2 billion in 2025, including $5 billion in Turkish exports and $4.2 billion in imports.
Turkish Trade Minister Bolat said the two countries are aiming to increase the volume to $15 billion in the near term.
He added that priorities include strengthening the legal and business framework through agreements on investment protection, investment promotion and the avoidance of double taxation, ensuring transparency, predictability and security for investors.
Belgian investments in Türkiye totaled $9.3 billion between 2002 and January 2026, while Turkish investments in Belgium amounted to $490 million.
Bolat said 719 Belgian companies currently operate in Türkiye, while Turkish companies are expanding in Belgium across logistics, defense, manufacturing, retail and advanced technologies.
The economic mission is regarded as one of Belgium’s most significant economic diplomacy initiatives with a strong political dimension.
It typically features a range of events centered on key sectors of bilateral economic relations with the host country and aims to promote concrete cooperation opportunities.
Belgium last organized an economic mission to Türkiye in 2012, when the visit was led by King Philippe, then crown prince.
Bolat underscored the sides’ intention to deepen cooperation in strategic sectors, including defense, logistics, energy, technology and advanced manufacturing.
Citing geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and rising protectionism, Bolat described Türkiye as a strategic production and logistics hub connecting Europe, Asia and Africa, offering direct access to a market of more than 1.3 billion consumers.
He highlighted Türkiye’s economic scale, noting its $1.6 trillion economy, young workforce and expanding industrial base. “Türkiye has become a global production, technology and logistics center,” he said.
Highlight on defense
Defense was highlighted as one of the strongest growth areas in bilateral cooperation.
Erdoğan told Mathilde that Türkiye’s participation in the EU’s defense initiatives is in the mutual interest of all sides, the statement said.
The president further said Türkiye and Belgium hold significant potential for cooperation in a broad range of fields, including trade, the defense industry, energy and agriculture, adding that efforts to further strengthen bilateral ties would continue.
He added that the green energy transition represents an important area of cooperation with Belgium, emphasizing that Türkiye is among Europe’s leading countries in installed renewable energy capacity.
The delegation on Sunday visited the Turkish drone powerhouse Baykar, which Belgium’s Francken described as “unique” within NATO because “it has made permanent innovation its mantra.”
“This company pioneered AI-integrated armed drones. They are getting higher and flying higher and further,” Francken wrote on the social media platform X.
Bolat said Türkiye’s defense and aerospace exports rose from $248 million in 2002 to more than $10 billion in 2025, a nearly 40-fold increase that has positioned the country as the world’s 11th-largest defense exporter.
“We see growing interest from Belgium in deeper engagement with our defense ecosystem,” he said.
Customs union update
He also emphasized logistics as another major area of opportunity, citing Türkiye’s $150 billion logistics market and more than $50 billion in logistics service exports.
Türkiye’s transportation infrastructure includes 58 airports and flight connections to 356 destinations, while weekly connectivity between Türkiye and Belgium includes 80 passenger flights and 14 cargo flights, according to Bolat.
More than 600,000 Belgian tourists visited Türkiye last year, he added.
Bolat identified information technologies, pharmaceuticals and clean energy as additional areas where bilateral cooperation could deepen.
He said Türkiye’s energy transition strategy, particularly in offshore wind and hydrogen technologies, presents opportunities for collaboration with Belgian firms.
Bolat also called on the EU to modernize the customs union to support integrated value chains between European and Turkish companies.
“We are working very closely on updating the customs union in line with today’s economic realities,” he said.
Türkiye’s annual trade volume with the EU has reached $233 billion, while nearly 70% of the $290 billion in foreign direct investment entering Türkiye since the early 2000s has originated from European firms, he noted.
As part of the forum, Bolat, Prevot and Francken signed a joint declaration aimed at strengthening bilateral trade relations.
In his speech, Prevot underlined the importance of the EU-Türkiye Customs Union in connecting Turkish industry to European value chains, while stressing that trade was “only one part of the story.”
He said Belgium and Türkiye have “highly complementary strengths” in multiple sectors, including energy, aerospace, defense, logistics, biotechnology and life sciences.
He added that bilateral ties “are built on nearly two centuries of political, diplomatic and economic cooperation.” According to Prevot, existing ties are already strong, but further potential remains in innovation, research and industrial collaboration.
Economic powerhouse
Meanwhile, Turkish Investment and Finance Office head Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu said Türkiye has maintained a reform-driven agenda since 2003, regularly updating investment policies and improving the business climate.
“Every 18 to 24 months, we prepare and implement a new reform agenda, gather private sector feedback and launch the next phase of reforms,” Dağlıoğlu said.
“Türkiye is a resilient and fast-growing economy,” he said, noting the country has recorded compound annual growth of 5.3% since 2003.
Dağlıoğlu said Türkiye’s strategic location has turned the country into a major connectivity and logistics hub linking three continents.
Massive infrastructure investments have transformed Türkiye from a regional bridge into a global economic powerhouse, he added.
He also noted that the government recently announced a new package of financial and non-financial investment incentives.
Complementary strengths
Addressing the event, Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) President Nail Olpak said Türkiye and Belgium have complementary economic strengths.
“Belgium is home to world-class companies in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, logistics, high-tech manufacturing and defense,” he noted.
Olpak cited Türkiye’s economic strength in production, technology and research and development, with its role as a global trade hub and consumer market of 86 million people.
He said the green transition presents significant opportunities for cooperation, combining Belgian sustainability expertise with Türkiye’s rapidly growing renewable energy sector.
He also highlighted the potential for cooperation between Belgian high-tech companies and Türkiye’s expanding startup ecosystem.
According to Olpak, defense industry cooperation remains an important and logical area for both countries.
“We all witness that today’s only certainty is uncertainty, which we businesspeople never like,” he said. “The idea of free trade has been transferred to economic blocs as well as political blocs.”
Türkiye’s more than 60-year EU partnership journey should now be viewed from a new perspective, Olpak stressed.
The U.K. could fully nationalize struggling steelmaker British Steel under new plans announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said Monday it had not been possible to sell the Chinese-owned business the government saved from closure last year.
Starmer said his government would bring in new legislation to allow it to take ownership of the steelworks based at Scunthorpe, northern England, ensuring the country does not lose its last remaining primary steelmaking capability.
Any decision will be based on a public interest test being met, which would consider national security, maintaining critical national infrastructure and supporting the economy.
The steelworks supply the rail, construction, and automotive industries, but have in recent years struggled with high energy costs in Britain and a glut of steel in the global market.
“Steel is strategically important to our economy and our national resilience,” said Starmer, who was making a speech defending his leadership.
In April 2025, the government seized operational control of British Steel from its Chinese owners, Jingye, to stop the furnaces from being shut and to protect 2,700 jobs at the plant and thousands of related jobs in the supply chain.
In the months since, it has been looking for a private sector partner to secure the future of British Steel, which was privatized under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1988.
Starmer said negotiations with Jingye had shown a commercial sale was not possible at this time, as any agreement would not deliver acceptable value for money for taxpayers.
Business minister Peter Kyle did not rule out private sector involvement in the future.
“The government recognizes that securing the long-term future of the U.K.’s steel sector relies on both public and private investment for modernization,” he said in a statement.
The cost of supporting British Steel is set to reach 615 million pounds ($836 million) by June, according to the country’s spending watchdog.
As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to embark on a visit to China to meet his counterpart Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, the American auto industry and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are united in a message: Please don’t offer China any access to the U.S. car market.
Trump in January told the Detroit Economic Club that it would be “great” if Chinese automakers wanted to build plants in the U.S. and employ Americans, adding: “I love that. Let China come in, let Japan come in.”
His comments rang alarm bells in an industry that had systematically lobbied successive administrations to bar Chinese cars from the U.S. market with tough data security rules and high tariffs on electric vehicles.
So automakers, suppliers, steelmakers, unions and politicians have redoubled their efforts, arguing that Chinese automakers, with limitless state support, massive scale, an EV technology edge and rock-bottom prices, would crush domestic and other foreign producers, hollowing out the core of the U.S. manufacturing base.
Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan went to the same forum in Detroit on Thursday specifically to urge Trump not to make a deal with Xi to allow Chinese investment in the U.S. auto sector that brings Chinese-brand cars into U.S. dealerships.
‘A bad deal’
“Please don’t make a bad deal,” said Slotkin, who also promoted her bipartisan bill with Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio that would explicitly bar Chinese vehicles over data collection concerns.
Their Connected Vehicle Security Act, which has a bipartisan companion bill in the House of Representatives, would codify a data rule effectively banning Chinese vehicles implemented by former President Joe Biden, making a reversal extremely difficult.
The House bill would go further, banning industry partnerships with Chinese companies. Congressional aides told Reuters that with broad support, the legislation could pass this year, possibly attached to a transportation spending bill.
“Every vehicle on American roads is a rolling data collection device, capturing information on location, movement, people, and infrastructure in real time, and we cannot allow Chinese vehicles or components to be a part of that system,” sponsoring representatives Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, and John Moolenaar, a Republican, said in a joint statement.
They are both from auto-heavy districts in Michigan. Some 74 House Democrats and 52 House Republicans signed letters recently urging Trump not to allow Chinese automakers to enter the American market.
Industry backs Chinese auto ban
The U.S. auto industry has shown unusual unity in supporting a ban.
Groups representing U.S. and foreign-brand automakers, car dealers and parts manufacturers in March told the administration that China’s efforts to dominate global auto production and gain access to the U.S. market “pose a direct threat to America’s global competitiveness, national security and automotive industrial base.”
Steel industry groups followed through with a similar letter on April 30, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), which has criticized Trump’s past tariffs on Chinese imports, also applauded the legislation to ban Chinese vehicles.
“Chinese automakers are not normal market competitors. Their EVs are the product of decades of state-backed mercantilism designed to help China capture global leadership in advanced industries,” said ITIF vice president Stephen Ezell.
“Once China’s subsidized firms are embedded in the U.S. market, the economic and national security damage would be far harder to reverse – and it would not be limited to Detroit,” Ezell added.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in Detroit in April that there were no plans to change the connected car rule, and that autos were not on the agenda at the Beijing summit.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also has ruled out Chinese investments in the U.S. autos sector.
But Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a domestic industries group, said there is a strong concern that Trump, who often talks of attracting more auto assembly plants to the U.S., could act alone.
“He’s left wiggle room in dealing with the auto sector,” Paul said.
Any plant approved would take two to three years to launch production, leaving consequences for Trump’s successor.
The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Low prices, market share gains
The industry wants to avoid a repeat of Chinese automakers’ steady market share gains in Europe and Mexico. A growing auto affordability crisis in the U.S., where Kelley Blue Book estimates the average vehicle list price now exceeds $51,000, makes existing producers especially vulnerable to cheaper Chinese models.
Last year, Chinese brands doubled their share of Europe’s car market to 6%, but took 14% of Norway’s market, 9% in Italy, 11% in Britain and 9% in Spain, and consumer interest in Chinese EVs is growing as the Iran war spikes gasoline prices.
Canada is beginning to import 49,000 Chinese EVs annually, and 34 Chinese auto brands are now on sale in Mexico, accounting for about 15% of that market at prices far below anything available in the U.S.
Geely’s EX2 EV starts at about $22,700 in Mexico, more than twice its price in the cut-throat Chinese market, but far below the cheapest Tesla Model 3 U.S. price of $38,630.
Even Toyota, which undercut Detroit automakers in the 1980s and 1990s, is having difficulty with Chinese pricing in the Mexican market, said Toyota Motor North America division manager David Christ.
“Obviously, there’s some level of government support, or else they couldn’t transact at that price,” Christ said in an interview. “So it has a huge impact on business.”
Retail sales in Türkiye climbed 21.2% on a yearly basis in March, official data showed on Monday, extending a momentum seen in recent months and indicating consumer demand remained strong despite regional tensions.
The sales volume advanced from a three-month low gain of 15.6% in the previous month, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The retail sales have been relatively resilient in recent months.
Retail sales track consumer demand for finished goods and serve as a critical economic barometer.
On an annual basis, the figure marked the strongest growth since February 2024, as sales remained solid for both food, beverages, and tobacco, expanding at 7.3% compared to 6.4% in February, and non-food items excluding automotive fuel, which have risen 28.8% compared to 21.3% in the previous month.
Within the non-food category, sales growth accelerated the most for computers, books and communication devices at 49.2%, electrical appliances and furniture at 9.3%, textiles, clothing and footwear at 13.7% and medical products and cosmetics at 14.3%, respectively.
In contrast, sales via mail or internet eased to 20.7% from 25.4% in February.
Meanwhile, automotive fuel sales climbed 10.6% in March, up from 5.8% in the previous month.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales increased 2.6% in March, rebounding from a 0.2% decline in February.
Overall trade sales, on the other hand, increased by 1.7% year-over-year and 1.9% on a monthly basis, according to TurkStat.
A separate report shared by the institute on Monday also showed that the total turnover index of the Turkish economy, including industry, construction, trade, and services sectors, surged by 34.6% on an annual basis in March.
Looking at the details of the index, the turnover in industry was up by 33.2%, construction increased by 22.0%, trade turnover rose by 35.9%, and services increased by 36.5% on an annual basis, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is urging Indians to refrain from buying gold for a year to protect foreign exchange reserves, stoking fears that tariff hikes to curb imports of the metal may be in the offing, sending shares of jewelry retailers tumbling.
The Iran war has sent oil prices surging and that in turn has resulted in mounting pressure on India’s balance of payments and the rupee.
India is the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, meeting more than 90% of its crude oil needs and about half of its natural gas demand through imports.
Modi’s remarks about gold Sunday came in tandem with a range of other measures urged, including fuel conservation, increasing working from home and limits on travel and imports.
Gold is in high demand in India, particularly for weddings, with gold jewelry seen as a crucial part of a bride’s attire and a popular gift from family and friends. While it is the world’s second-largest gold consumer, India relies on imports to meet nearly all of its demand.
Shares of jewelry makers such as Titan, Senco Gold and Kalyan Jewellers fell between 6% and 8% Monday.
“There are concerns that the government might sharply increase import duty on gold for a year to discourage imports,” said Surendra Mehta, national secretary at the India Bullion and Jewellers Association. “Duties could be raised even higher than levels seen in recent years.”
In 2012 and 2013, New Delhi hiked tariffs on gold imports to stabilize a rapidly depreciating rupee. Now, jewelers fear that duty cuts made in 2024 to 6% from 15% to curb smuggling could soon be reversed.
A government source said Monday, however, that India has no plans to raise duties on gold and silver imports.
India’s balance of payments is expected to deteriorate sharply this fiscal year to a deficit of about $66 billion to $70 billion, compared with an estimated $26 billion to $28 billion in 2025-26.
Pressure on the rupee has prompted the central bank to sell the dollar and limit the size of trading positions that banks can take. It has also clamped down on arbitrage trades.
Türkiye achieved a record level of revenue last year from the use of its airspace within the scope of air navigation services, according to a report on Sunday.
The revenue stood at approximately TL 33 billion (around $727.7 million in current prices), according to data compiled by the Anadolu Agency (AA) from the 2025 Activity Report of the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI), which operates under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Türkiye collects fees from airspace users for the use of facilities and services, in line with the rules of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), of which it is a member.
Within this framework, Eurocontrol member states prepare a “cost base” for each fiscal year, which includes expenditures related to such services. This cost base consists of personnel costs, other current expenses, depreciation, and capital costs.
Airspace users are charged based on this cost for air navigation services. These costs represent the reimbursement amount for Türkiye’s air navigation service expenditures.
Service revenues increased by 53%
Within the scope of navigation services provided by Türkiye, approximately TL 33.05 billion in revenue was generated last year from airspace usage, marking a record. This represents a 53% increase compared to TL 21.59 billion recorded in 2024.
As a result, Türkiye ranked sixth among 42 Eurocontrol member countries in terms of the “national cost base size index” and second in terms of “airspace demand.”
Moreover, Türkiye maintained its position as the country providing the highest number of service units in European airspace during November and December last year and January this year, breaking its own record in monthly system service unit figures.
While the growth rate in observed service units across Eurocontrol members was 5.5% compared to the previous year, this rate reached 9.3% in Türkiye.
Accordingly, the total number of service units in the country reached approximately 21.87 million at the end of last year.
Türkiye achieved this record thanks to rising domestic demand, strong infrastructure, and human resources. The country’s geopolitical position and its role as an air traffic corridor on the East-West axis also contributed to its high level of service unit volume.
Türkiye stands out as the third-largest country in the global portfolio of International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of World Bank Group, a senior executive said on Sunday, detailing the institution’s priorities in the country.
International Finance Corporation’s Türkiye, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Director Lisa Kaestner said they are focusing on investments that can boost employment and raise productivity during a period of tightening liquidity conditions and rising volatility.
“IFC has invested more than $25 billion in Türkiye over the past 10 years. Türkiye stands out as the third-largest country in IFC’s global portfolio,” Kaestner told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Speaking to AA, she noted the country is strategically important for the World Bank Group, explaining that IFC’s priorities are shaped around a very concrete question: how private sector investments can support employment and competitiveness while also strengthening resilience.
Kaestner emphasized that, amid tighter liquidity and increased volatility, they are prioritizing investments that can create jobs, improve productivity, and accelerate the transition toward cleaner and more resilient value chains.
“Through our investments in manufacturing, logistics and value chains across the real sector, we support the competitiveness and growth of Turkish companies,” she explained.
“We help companies improve productivity, meet international standards, strengthen export capacity and shift toward higher value-added production that creates employment,” she added.
Moreover, Kaestner said IFC invested in Arçelik to support R&D, renewable energy and resource efficiency, and also financed Enerjisa to strengthen and modernize energy distribution infrastructure, including in regions affected by the earthquakes back in 2023.
Financial sector
In the financial sector, Kaestner said IFC works with private banks and non-bank financial institutions to provide longer-term financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), exporters and entrepreneurs.
“At the same time, we contribute to the development of capital market instruments that broaden the investor base. For example, IFC invested $100 million in Iş Bank’s digital bond, the first digital bond issued by a private bank in an emerging market,” she noted.
“The funds were directed toward supporting SMEs recovering in the earthquake-hit region,” she furthered.
Kaestner also underscored that IFC’s investment priorities in Türkiye align directly with the World Bank Group’s employment-focused agenda, noting that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) account for around 70.5% of employment in the country.
She said employment is largely an MSME story, but large-scale companies also make significant contributions.
“When leading employers grow, the employment impact extends beyond the company itself (as) suppliers, logistics firms and service providers also benefit from that growth. IFC’s role is to enable companies to invest, grow and create jobs at every stage.”
In practice, she explained, this means focusing not only on financing volumes but also on factors such as maturity, risk appetite and accessibility to financing, all of which determine whether job-creating investments can materialize.
These factors are especially critical in industrial modernization, clean energy, and large-scale logistics and infrastructure investments, where payback periods are longer.
Kaestner said that when companies gain access to longer-term and properly structured financing, they can invest in new equipment, skills and systems, compete more effectively, and sustain employment even during difficult conditions.
Mobilizing private capital
Kaestner said one of IFC’s key contributions in Türkiye is mobilizing private capital. She explained that IFC often acts as an anchor investor, helping build confidence in transactions and bringing together international creditors and investors through proper structuring and risk mitigation mechanisms.
This approach, she said, can include creating large-scale financing packages with commercial banks, supporting bond issuances and utilizing capital market instruments that broaden the investor base.
As an example, Kaestner noted that IFC mobilized private capital, with participation from commercial banks and asset managers, for a Eurobond issuance aimed at expanding Şişecam’s flat glass and solar glass production capacity, while also serving as an anchor investor in the issuance.
Kaestner emphasized that, for IFC, resilience means ensuring that investments continue and essential services operate uninterrupted even in volatile conditions.
“During periods when liquidity tightens and risk appetite declines, IFC steps in to support companies with strong fundamentals and priority investments through long-term, properly structured financing and risk-sharing,” she said.
“In addition to financing, our advisory and pre-investment work contributes to building a pipeline of bankable projects while supporting higher standards in environmental and social governance, corporate governance and inclusivity. In this way, we help ensure that private capital serves more resilient and sustainable growth.”
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