A meeting of the Turkey-USA commercial cooperation working group was held. This group will set strategies to enhance the trade relations between the two countries. The working group established to coordinate commercial relations in the new period under the joint trade action plan between Turkey and the USA gathered at the Ministry of Trade. According to a written statement from the Ministry, in the meeting chaired by Deputy Minister Mustafa Tuzcu, the activities to be carried out after the trade policy announced by the USA for the new period were discussed with relevant institutions. The working group will determine policies and strategies to counter possible effects of protectionist tendencies projected to increase global trade under the new conditions of USA-Turkey trade relations. During this process, the focus will be on thoroughly discussing efforts to strengthen trade relations between the USA and Turkey in line with the new conditions of the period.

ACTION PLAN TO BE UPDATED
During the meeting, a decision was made to update the action plan aimed at increasing the trade volume to the 100 billion dollar target set with the USA. Within the action plan, data analyses on sectors with potential in the USA market will be accelerated in the new period, intensive trade delegations will be initiated in priority sectors with this country, and programs will be organized in Turkey with significant supply chains in the USA. Giving priority to the International Competitiveness Development (UR-GE), Turquality, and HİSER (Increasing Competition Power of the Service Sector Project Support) programs, the new action plan aims to support promotion activities, delegations, and fairs based on state-level. All activities in the action plan will be prepared based on states, and support will be developed to enhance foreign logistic networks and increase alternatives. The aim of the action plan is to classify fairs organized in the USA among prestigious fairs.

MINISTER BOLAT GOING TO THE USA
Furthermore, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat will go to Washington, the capital of the USA in May to attend the 12th term meeting of the Turkey-USA Trade and Investment Council (TIFA). Alongside negotiations with US Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Bolat is also planned to participate in the Turkish-American Conference. The visit will address concrete issues regarding increasing, diversifying, and developing new areas of cooperation between Turkey and the USA that will benefit both parties. Minister Bolat had sent a letter to Greer regarding proposals on discussing perspectives of both countries within the framework of the USA-Turkey joint trade action plan.