Turkey looks forward to 2018 customs union deal update

By Dilara Zengin and Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Turkey hopes an update to the customs union deal will be on the agenda of the first European Council meeting due in the spring of 2018, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Wednesday.

"Majority of EU member countries, 25 or 26, have the opinion that updating customs union deal is firstly in favor of the EU then Turkey.

“They are supporting Turkey so that this positive platform will not get spoiled."

Regarding the U.K.'s Brexit, Zeybekci said the U.K was Turkey’s second biggest trading partner after Germany.

"We are approaching the trade volume target of $20 billion," he said.

Zeybekci said both countries have carried out joint studies regarding Brexit process.

He said there was a framework to deal with the post Brexit situation and Turkish technical teams had carried out their work in this regard swiftly.

"Official negotiations was started on Nov. 9. Both sides have carried out studies to prevent any gap that may occur after Brexit," he added.