As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan completed a three-nation Gulf visit, accords totaling USD 50.7 billion were inked between Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek tweeted late Wednesday, “Today we have witnessed the signing of several strategic agreements and (memorandums of understanding) worth a total of USD 50.7 billion to further cement relations between the UAE and Turkiye.”
The agreements include a variety of industries, including export finance, earthquake bonds, energy, and military
To help Turkey’s struggling economy, Erdogan set off on a visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
Turkiye’s inflation rate dropped to 38% last month from a peak of 85% in October, while the country’s budget deficit increased to USD 8.37 billion in June, seven times what it was a year earlier.
After a decade-long break with the Arab nations, Ankara has mended relations with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi during the last two years.
The transactions, according to Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management in London, constitute a “new strategic relationship between Turkiye and the Gulf states.”
Ash called the pledges from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait a “real triumph for Erdogan and his team,” and he said that they would support Ankara as it embarks on a phase of economic change that favors more conventional policy-making.