Bridges: How important is the strengthening of Türkiye-Japan relations?
Çalık: The deep-rooted and friendly relations between Türkiye and Japan, which continue to develop and prosper, celebrate their 100th anniversary this year. In addition to the complementary economies of the two countries, I believe that we are two societies that are very close, respectful and understanding socially and politically. We pursue similar principles.
Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Asia Anew” initiative are in line with Türkiye’s priorities in terms of rule of law, establishment of peace, safe maritime transit and multidimensional cooperation. Likewise, the “Distant Countries Strategy” aims to diversify the economic cooperation and mutual trade activities of our two countries. In addition to our ongoing trade relations, we also continue to successfully cooperate in the fields of culture and tourism.
At the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board: DEIK Türkiye-Japan Business Council, of which I am chairman, we work in close communication with the Japanese business world operating in Türkiye to strengthen these relations. Drawing strength from our deep-rooted relationship, we identify sectors and opportunities with development potential and cultivate technology and industry collaborations to increase our mutual trade volume. We are working to revitalise tourism and taking steps to improve the legal infrastructure to overcome obstacles. We continue to be excited by the potential of the relations between our two countries. Our exports from Türkiye are dominated by food products such as fruit and vegetables, iron and steel, fish and seafood.
Recently, exports from Türkiye to Japan have been increasing in the machinery and electric vehicles sectors. Furthermore, thanks to the opportunities offered by Türkiye in areas such as gastro tourism, historical tourism and winter tourism, which are gradually growing in the world, Japanese tourists who visit our country leave with unforgettable memories. Japan is one of the world’s largest economies, and we attach importance to cooperating with strong and reliable partners in this market. Thus, we can develop joint projects in areas such as Smart Cities (communication systems, digital services, smart solutions, etc.).
On the other hand, thanks to the recently signed Overseas Cooperation Agreement, the Turkish-Japanese partnership’s access to overseas markets in construction, engineering and infrastructure projects can increase. In the second century of increasingly strong diplomatic relations, we believe that regional and global cooperation between Japan and Türkiye will further deepen through new initiatives and business partnerships.
What impact does the work of DEİK have in relation to the Türkiye-Japan partnership?
DEIK Türkiye-Japan Business Council has been carrying out business diplomacy activities between the Turkish and Japanese business world since its establishment in 1986 to encourage Japanese firms to invest in Türkiye and increase cooperation between Japanese and Turkish firms engaged in the projects in Türkiye and third countries.
As DEIK/Türkiye-Japan Business Council, we can summarise our goals as determining the sectors with development potential between the two countries to boost our mutual trade volume with Japan and enhancing technological cooperation, developing collaboration and industrial partnership in 3rd countries, awareness raising studies for innovative sectors that do not have a share in trade. Improving the legal infrastructure and encouraging investment interest in Türkiye are other significant matters that stand out in the Business Council’s working areas. Within this framework, we focus on strengthening our stakeholder relations in our country and Japan, increasing our exports, enhancing Japanese investments, and diversifying tourism mobility between our countries. We work closely with the Japanese business world operating in our country.
Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Asia Anew” initiative are in line with Türkiye’s priorities in terms of rule of law, establishment of peace, safe maritime transit and multidimensional cooperation.
Ahmet Çalık, Chairman of Çalık Holding
We organise information enhancing and target-setting meetings such as webinars, round tables, and consultation meetings with Turkish and Japanese companies. In the first place, we have determined our target to realise the activities that will boost our economic and commercial relations within a win-win understanding and overcome the obstacles in bilateral economic relations. We believe that one of the essential tasks for us is to work diligently to improve the general picture by taking strength from our President, our government, diplomatic missions and relevant institutions.
We are also in consultation with the Presidential Investment Office to discover potential investment areas. As DEIK/Türkiye-Japan Business Council, we organised the Türkiye-Japan Business Forum on the 5th of September in 2023 in cooperation with JETRO. This forum added important momentum to our bilateral economic and commercial cooperation. In addition to evaluating the strong economic relations and new cooperation potential between the two countries at the event, we exchanged information and views on rebuilding cities after the major earthquake in February 2023.
We also discussed the steps to accelerate the process of the Türkiye-Japan Free Trade Agreement. On the other hand, the Japanese business world attaches great importance to overseas cooperation. Within the scope, the agreement on Overseas Cooperation signed on 16 May 2024 between the NEXI, Calık Holding, SMBC, and Turkish Eximbank is a good example of these concrete steps. In addition to Türkiye, we see high potential for Turkish-Japanese cooperation in Africa, Ukraine, and the Middle East.
Such agreements covering infrastructure, energy, construction, and engineering fields create successful results for the Turkish-Japanese partnership. The Japanese business world is ready to cooperate more with Turkish companies. However, strong steps are needed. Within the framework of these efforts, we are in contact with leading Japanese organisations such as JICA and JBIC. The Japanese side cooperates with organisations such as Turk Eximbank and TSKB in Türkiye.
We closely follow these developments and inform our stakeholders. We will hold the 27th Türkiye-Japan Business Council Joint Meeting on 17 October 2024 in Tokyo in cooperation with our counterpart organisation Keidanren. We expect the participation of leading high-level public and private sector representatives from Türkiye in this meeting. At the meeting, we will evaluate the common steps to be taken as Turkish and Japanese industrial organisations and areas with high potential for cooperation.
We also hope to organise the Turkish-Japanese Energy Forum in Tokyo this year. To conclude, as DEIK/Türkiye-Japan Business Council, we will continue our meetings with our Japanese stakeholders and relevant Turkish sector organisations in areas such as technology cooperation, entrepreneurship sector, investments and tourism.
