Turkey is trying to compensate for its trade losses from Iraq, Iran and Egypt by strengthening its commercial ties with Western countries. The partial recovery observed in European countries and the U.S. has helped Turkey to increase its exports to those countries. According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat), exports to 28 EU member countries increased by 11.1 percent in July compared to last year, reaching $6 billion (TL 12.97 billion). FromJanuary to July, Turkey's exports to the EU also increased by 13.3 percent when compared to the same period in 2013, reaching $40.8 billion.Again exports to the U.S. increased by 9.1 percent in July, reaching approximately $1 billion but in the January to July term, general exports to the U.S. decreased by 2.1 percent when compared to 2013. In July, there was a huge decline in the exports to neighboring countries. While exports to Iraq fell by 45.3 percent, exports to Iran also decreased by 11.7 percent in July.Exports to Egypt also suffered due to the deteriorating relations with Turkey after the turmoil in Egypt. Exports to Iraq in January to July term dropped by 2.1 percent when compared to the same period last year, while exports to Iran decreased by 38.5 percent and exports to Egypt by 11.6 percent. In this period exports to Syria increased and exports in July increased by 367.7 percent, while exports in the first six months of this year surged by 98.7 percent.Relations with Western countries in this period was not only limited to foreign trade as foreign direct investment inflow was around $5.3 billion with an increase of 82.5 percent. There was a steep decline of 46.1 percent in foreign investment flow from Asia. Investments dropped to $741 million this year from $1.4 billion in last year's first half.