President Erdoğan: We have a common will to further expand our dialogue with the Netherlands on regional issues
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands held a joint press conference following their tête-à-tête and the meeting between the delegations.
President Erdoğan said that his meeting with Prime Minister Rutte had addressed the bilateral relations, the Türkiye-EU relations and regional developments.
“WE HAVE BEEN DISPLAYING A CLEAR STANCE SINCE THE ONSET OF THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE”
Noting that the developments in Ukraine had been high on the agenda of their meeting, President Erdoğan stated: “I informed Mr. Prime Minister about Türkiye’s diplomatic efforts between Ukraine and Russia. As you know, we will come together once more on the occasion of the Extraordinary Meeting of NATO Leaders in Brussels on Thursday. As Türkiye, we have been displaying a clear stance since the onset of the crisis in Ukraine. We have called for commonsense and dialogue on every occasion. We have stressed the need to de-escalate the tension and pave the way for diplomacy.”
President Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows: “Unfortunately, however, the humanitarian tragedy in Ukraine increasingly continues. Thousands of civilians have been killed. Over 3 million people have fled their home country and taken refuge in neighboring countries. We have been engaged in an intensive diplomacy in order for this situation to come to an immediate end. I maintain my talks with Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin. Our Foreign Minister held talks last week with his counterparts in Moscow and Lviv. We once again underlined our readiness to lend every support in our power on the path to ceasefire and lasting peace. We are aware of the difficulty of the circumstances; however, we will maintain in the period ahead our sincere efforts that consider diplomacy to be the only way out.”
“WITH $27.5 BILLION, THE NETHERLANDS IS THE COUNTRY WHICH HAS THE BIGGEST DIRECT INVESTMENT IN TÜRKİYE”
“We have a common will to further expand our relations and our dialogue with the Netherlands, a NATO ally of ours, on regional issues. The 9th meeting of the Wittenburg Conference, co-chaired by our Foreign Ministers, will take place in Türkiye,” the President added.
Pointing out that the trade with the Netherlands had increased last year by nearly 30% to reach $11 billion, President Erdoğan stated that the target, set in 2016, had thus been surpassed.
Describing the new target as $20 billion, President Erdoğan said: “Current statistics indicate that the momentum we have achieved will increasingly continue. With $27.5 billion, the Netherlands is the country which has the biggest direct investment in Türkiye. The investments in the Netherlands originating from Türkiye are worth around $16 billion. With their investments worth nearly $16 billion and with about 23 thousand companies they have founded in the Netherlands, Turkish entrepreneurs employ 80 thousand people.”
Stressing that he and Prime Minister Rutte were on the same page as regards the need for increased cooperation in every area from energy and environment to infrastructure and technology, from agriculture and foodstuff to finance, President Erdoğan said: “Also high on our joint agenda are green development and green revolution. The humanitarian aspect constitutes an important bridge in our relations. It matters a lot to us that the Turkish community in the Netherlands live in peace and prosperity and participate in every realm of life while also preserving its cultural identity. We hosted last year nearly 650 thousand Dutch friends of ours in Türkiye. I believe that we can reach, and even surpass, the pre-pandemic figures if Türkiye is added to the green category in the Netherlands’ travel list.”
President Erdoğan concluded his remarks as follows: “The latest global developments have once again demonstrated beyond question the added value of Türkiye’s EU membership. We expect the EU to open the chapters of membership negotiations and rapidly initiate the negotiations for updating the Customs Union without giving in to vicious calculations of self-interest. Before ending my remarks with this thoughts, I wish for today’s talks to be auspicious for our countries and our world. I once again thank Mr. Rutte and his delegation for their visit.”
