2025 Export Action Plan Announced
Türkiye's 77-point Export Action Plan for 2025 was unveiled at a press conference held at the Türkiye Exporters Assembly Foreign Trade Complex, with the participation of the Republic of Türkiye's Minister of Trade, Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat.
The 2025 Action Plan for Exports was shared with the public at a press conference held at TIM Foreign Trade Complex with the participation of Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat. Speaking at the opening of the event, TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe noted that despite the challenges faced by many sectors in terms of competitiveness, Türkiye achieved an export volume of $262 billion in 2024, marking a 2.5% increase. Gültepe emphasized, “Our target for 2025 is $280 billion, which means we need to achieve an approximate increase of 7%.”
“Policies supporting exporters must be implemented”
TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe expressed that significant progress had been made in tackling inflation and interest rate-related challenges and anticipated the introduction of policies aimed at further supporting production and exports.
He acknowledged that difficulties would persist in the first three to four months of the year and could extend up to six months, but expected an acceleration in export growth in the second half of the year.
Gültepe highlighted the support provided by the Ministry of Trade to exporters and expressed confidence that other ministries would prioritize exports in the upcoming period.
He underscored the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders, including business associations and NGOs, and stated, “The support provided by Eximbank and the Turkish Trade Bank over the past 1.5 years gives us hope regarding financing.”
“Our red line is to achieve growth in goods and services exports under all circumstances”
During the meeting, Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat outlined the 77-point 2025 Export Action Plan and emphasized the critical role of exports in the Turkish economy, citing its contributions to investment, production, employment, and foreign exchange inflow. Bolat asserted that their primary objective was to “ensure continuous growth in goods and services exports under all conditions”.
Recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan set a target of $390 billion for goods and services exports in 2025, Bolat affirmed their determination to achieve this goal.
Minister Bolat stated that last year they achieved $375 billion in goods and services exports, reaching $262 billion in goods exports with a 2.5% increase, breaking the Republic's record. He further noted, “Our goods imports decreased by nearly 5% to $344.1 billion, thereby reducing our trade deficit to $82.2 billion. This is a significant step, as it stood at $106.4 billion in 2023. In total, we have reduced our trade deficit by $24.2 billion. The export-to-import coverage ratio reached 76.1%, marking an increase of 5.5 percentage points.”
Minister of Trade Bolat stated that service exports reached an annualized figure of $113.6 billion in December, adding, ”We will close 2024 with $114 billion in service exports, achieving an increase of approximately $8 billion. We have a $61 billion surplus in service trade, which helps us offset the $82 billion deficit in goods trade.”
“Our goal this year is to issue green passports to 8,500 new exporters.”
Bolat emphasized that the 2025 Export Action Plan comprises 77 action items, including projects aimed at strengthening trade diplomacy, facilitating customs procedures, and ensuring more favorable export financing conditions.
Minister Bolat stated that the first section of the action plans covers the Support and Price Stability Fund (DFIF) supports, the second focuses on support mechanisms and improvements for goods exports, the third pertains to support for service exports, the fourth addresses trade diplomacy and multilateral regional bilateral relations, the fifth outlines measures to be taken at customs to facilitate exports, and the sixth section encompasses export financing.
Minister of Trade Bolat announced that this year they will implement 269 trade delegation programs and organize 85 procurement delegation events, making the following remarks:
"We will support our exporters by participating in 65 domestic fairs, 330 international fairs, and 1,650 individual fair participations. We will launch 50 UR-GE projects and implement 40 new Global Supply Chain (GSC) projects within the framework of the GSC program. Additionally, we will provide support for 12,000 market entry certificates targeting new and young exporters. Furthermore, we will incorporate 61 new companies and 63 brands into the brand and Turquality programs based on currently projected applications.
Thus, with these 61 new companies and 63 brands, we aim to support a total of 355 companies and 380 brands. This year, we plan to grant green passports to 8,500 new exporters and engage 30,000 participants in our informational activities. We will continue our informational efforts seamlessly through our trade attachés and commercial counselors abroad. In addition, we will introduce interest and profit-sharing support focused on technology and new market-oriented initiatives for our exporters."
"The growth of our economy will begin to accelerate from the spring of 2025 onwards."
Minister Bolat underscored the support to be provided to firms to prepare for the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, stating:
"Our objective here is to increase the number of sustainable, green economy-compliant firms with high international competitiveness. We are easing the conditions for domestic fairs to be included in the support scope. The prestigious fair opportunity status will also be extended to domestic fairs, which are of international caliber. Thus, with the implementation of the prestigious fair program, the applicable support ratio for domestic fairs will be increased from 50% to 70%. In February, we will launch the second phase of our Easy Export Platform and update it accordingly. We will organize specialized procurement delegations aimed at global retail chains and expand our programs to bring major global retail chains to our country for meetings with our exporters in the supply sector."
Highlighting the significant strides made in e-export, Bolat stated, "In 2022, e-exports accounted for only 0.9% of our total exports; by the end of 2024, this figure reached 2.7%, marking a threefold increase in two years. Our goal is to increase the share of e-exports in total exports to 10% by 2030."
Expressing optimism for 2025, Minister Bolat continued:
"A significant portion of the challenges has been overcome, and from the spring of 2025 onwards, the growth of our economy will accelerate. With the diminishing impact of the earthquake burden on the public budget in the second half of 2025 and especially in 2026, all segments of our society, as well as our business community, producers, and exporters, will experience a notable relief. As the government, we possess the necessary determination, courage, vision, and will. Under the leadership of our President, we will continue advancing towards the goals of the Century of Trade by enhancing our exports of goods and services together with you."