It was decided to establish a HLED mechanism at the Türkiye-EU Summit held on 29 November 2015 in order to develop dialogue channels between Türkiye and the EU. In this context, three meetings were held in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Türkiye hosted the first and third meetings and Belgium for the second meeting.
Finally, in December 2024, it was decided to revive the dialogue at the EU General Affairs Council meeting. This decision was approved at the EU State and Government Heads Summit and moved to the official ground.
In this context, the first meeting of the new era will be held on April 3 in Brussels.
The opening speeches will make the opening speeches of Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, EU economy and productivity commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and EU expansion commissioner Marta KOS.
The meeting is important in terms of acceleration of economic relations between the parties and deepening strategic cooperation.
Finance giants will also participate
The meeting will consist of two main sections. In the first part, the macroeconomic appearance of Türkiye and the EU at the ministers level, steps and structural reforms that can be taken in the field of competitiveness will be discussed. Şimşek and commissioner Dombrovskis will be chaired by looking at these sessions.
In the second part, the leading representatives of Türkiye and the EU business world will come together with ministers and commissioners and evaluate common investment and trade opportunities.
The meetings of the European Investment Bank, the European Development and Development Bank and the European Development Council Bank of the European Development Council will also attend the meetings.
Minister Şimşek will also hold bilateral meetings with Dombrovskis and Kos within the scope of meetings. In the talks, the future of relations and possible cooperation areas will be discussed.
“We are ready for more powerful and multi -dimensional cooperation with the EU”
Minister Şimşek said that the meetings started the re-start after 6 years and that he saw it as a very valuable step for the revival of Turkey-EU relations. he said.
Emphasizing that EU membership is a strategic target for Türkiye, Şimşek said that approximately 42 percent of the country’s exports are made to EU countries and that Türkiye is the 5th largest trade partner of the Union.
Şimşek pointed out that increasing protectionist tendencies in global trade and e-commerce, digitalization and green transformation areas necessitated an updated trade framework and said:
“The customs union is updated to cover public procurement, services and agricultural sectors, to provide visa ease of business people and students and to develop joint projects in third countries, and the cooperation of Turkey-EU cooperation.
