Turkic Council To Establish US$500 Million Investment Fund

Intra-Grouping Trade Expected To Increase

The Istanbul-initiated Turkic Council has said that it will set up a US$500m investment fund to boost economic links between member states.

Member countries of the Turkic Council include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan is not an official member of the council due to its neutral stance, however it does participate in the Turkic Council Free Trade Zone. Hungary has been an observer state since 2018 and may soon request full membership in the Turkic Council.

The prominence of the Turkic Council has surged over the past couple of years as Turkey’s power and confidence has grown. It has reoriented the group, which was set Turkic Council to set up investment fund products that it can export to the EU tariff-free to 6,200. The EU’s GSP+ is considered a stepping stone for developing countries that want to improve trade relations to the level of a Free Trade Agreement. The basic GSP level reduces tariffs on two-thirds of imports into the EU. These are mainly agricultural goods but also some manufactured products. It is automatically conferred on developing countries and, currently from the Central Asia and South in 2009 as a cultural awareness body in the Turkic-speaking world, into an economic and political club.

Omer Kocman, the Turkic Council’s secretary-general, said that the US$500m investment fund was only “initial steps” towards further economic cooperation. He said that the spread of the Covid-19 virus had delayed the setting up of the deal but that he expected it to take place this year. “The amount of trade with the countries of the Turkic Council is around US$8 billion to US$10 billion. These figures will increase,” he was quoted as saying by Turkish media.

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