Turkey, EU to renew customs union agreement

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said yesterday that Turkey and the EU will sign a comprehensive agreement on Tuesday for the renewal of the Customs Union agreement. "I will leave this evening for Belgium to sign a Memorandum of Understanding as we have come to terms on four items in favor of Turkey," Zeybekci said, at a meeting in Istanbul. The customs union, which came into force in December 1995, imposes common external tariffs for all industrial and processed agricultural goods. Zeybekci said, "As the Turkish government, we clearly conveyed to the EU that the Customs Union agreement will be unsustainable if the agreement is not updated or the demands of the Turkish government will not be satisfied. The negotiations have started since then." According to Zeybekci, the four items that both the EU and Turkish sides have agreed to are; Turkey will take part in any decision-making mechanism, Turkey will be automatically part of any free trade agreement signed between the EU and third countries, the EU will remove all obstacles and tariffs that obstruct the free movement of Turkish goods in the EU market within the scope of the Customs Union agreement, and the EU will include the agriculture, the service sector and public procurement, which were excluded in 1996. "This will be the first step of the most comprehensive renewal of the agreement," Zeybekci added. Turkey has been a candidate country to join the EU since 1999. According to the European Commission website, the EU is Turkey's number one import and export partner while Turkey ranks seventh and fifth in the EU's top import and export markets, respectively.