Deepening Customs Union with EU will 'create new narrative for Turkish economy'

Deepening the current Customs Union deal between Turkey and the EU will enable the country to develop a new economic narrative, according to Sinan Ülgen, the founder of Istanbul Economics and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels.

?The current Customs Union deal which has been in force between Turkey and the European Union since 1995, covers only industrial goods and processed agricultural goods, amounting to only 20 percent of the national economy. With a deepening of the Customs Union deal, services industries and the agricultural sector could be included as well as public procurement, thus incorporating all areas of the Turkish economy related to international trade,? said Ülgen at a press meeting on Oct. 20 to launch a working report prepared by Istanbul Economics as a part of a Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜS?AD) project financially supported by the British Embassy in Ankara.

?On the road to deepening its deal with the EU, Turkey will have many opportunities to liberalize its economy and raise its economic activities to become more transparent and more productive. This deal will definitely enable the country to create a new economic narrative, which it needs now,? said Ülgen, who is also the chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

The report, which is co-authored by Ülgen and Pelin Yenigün Dilek, a senior consultant in Istanbul Economics, has analyzed what the deepening in the Customs Union will bring to the Turkish economy. 

Following a political understanding announced in May 2015, Turkey and the EU officially initiated the process. 

Ülgen said formal negotiations are expected to be launched by the second half of 2016. 

Turkey?s share...