US Türkiye-Bilateral Trade Talks

Secretary Blinken and Minister Fidan discussed opportunities to transform the U.S.-Türkiye security and defense relationship to build upon each country’s significant capabilities and innovation to meet strategic challenges and opportunities.  In this regard, they announced the U.S.-Türkiye Defense Trade Dialogue would meet in 2024 and both countries would pursue opportunities to advance defense industrial cooperation.

Secretary Blinken and Minister Fidan appreciated the continuous growth in U.S.-Türkiye-bilateral trade, which has reached over 30 billion.  They reaffirmed the importance of expanding economic and commercial cooperation and building upon existing bilateral fora—such as the Digital Dialogue, held on March 4 in Türkiye—to broaden and deepen our economic cooperation.  The two sides discussed capitalizing on financing opportunities under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment to create high standards for infrastructure in developing nations.  Both sides endorsed an Energy and Climate Dialogue (ECD), which will be launched and co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Energy and Türkiye’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources together with the participation of the U.S. State Department and Türkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The ECD will advance energy security and the energy transition in both countries and cooperation on climate change. Both sides acknowledged, particularly in light of net zero targets, the growing importance of civil nuclear energy, both conventional and Small Modular Reactors, developed to the highest standards of safety, security, and nonproliferation, and encouraged Turkish and US public and private sectors to explore opportunities and develop concrete proposals for cooperation in this field.