Turkey maintains ‘contactless’ external trade, minister says

The Turkish Trade Ministry has developed various ways to maintain the flow of goods through its border gates and ports despite travel bans introduced at the beginning of March, when the coronavirus pandemic started spreading around the world, according to the trade minister.

"We, as the ministry, started taking serious measures in coordination with other ministries and institutions before this virus was detected in our country. Accordingly, we developed schemes for contactless export and contactless foreign trade," said Ruhsar Pekcan in a press conference at the ministry headquarters in Ankara on March 27.

"On this issue, we have achieved successes that are exemplary for the world. I urge the business world to continue trading using these opportunities," she said.

Up to 1,140 trucks have been carrying goods between Turkey and Iraq daily through buffer zones between the border gates, which have been closed since March 1 due to the virus outbreak, according to Pekcan's remarks.

Through this method, a driver - wearing gloves and a mask - on one side of the border parks a trailer at the buffer zone between Turkey's Habur gate and Iraq's Ibrahim Khalil border crossing and returns. Then, another driver from the other side of the border pulls the trailer after disinfection assisted by health officials.

Pekcan also recalled that some 130,000 trucks used to cross the Iranian-Turkish border every day before the border gates were closed to counter the spread of coronavirus, adding that 94,000 of them were carrying goods to Iran and the rest 36,000 were heading to the Central Asian markets.

In a bid to continue the flow of goods between Turkey and the Central Asian countries, Turkey increased the capacity of the border crossings to...

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