Tuzmen: Trade with Iraq will Continue

Tuzmen answered journalists’ questions yesterday after he met with Lebanon’s Labor Force Education and Management Minister. Tuzmen reminded that Turkey is a developing country and that it therefore had to export to all countries in order to increase its revenue. The Trade Minister stressed that UND’s decision would not cause a huge disruption in exports to Iraq.

"Nearly 4,100 vehicles were going [to Iraq] daily. Now the figure is about 3,900. This is a 4-4.5 percent decrease. However, we will still reach the export target of 1.6-1.8 billion dollars by the end of the year," explained Tuzmen.

Tuzmen added that in an effort to reduce the risk to truckers, Turkey plans to increase daily railroad shipments from four to five. Turkey will also build storehouses in safe regions of Iraq and transport goods from these points to interior regions.