The free trade agreement negotiations between Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council which began in 2005 have fallen victim to local industry interests, specifically the iron and steel industry in the region which accused Turkish exporters of dumping cheap iron and steel products into the GCC market.
Turkish officials had repeatedly expressed optimism that an FTA would be concluded by this year's end the last GCC summit of the year convened yesterday in the United Arab Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi without the conclusion of any such agreement with Turkey.
Obstacles before the FTA between Turkey and the GCC were never made public, but Mr Bhaskar Dutta CEO of Oman’s Al Jazeera Steel Products Company said in October that Turkey was dumping cheap steel in the GCC and urged regional authorities to take action by levying anti dumping taxes on Turkish exports. He asked the GCC Technical Secretariat for Anti Dumping to do more to protect the region’s steel producers.
He accused Turkey of very aggressively marketing its products in the GCC and said many plants in the UAE have either reduced or altogether stopped their production because they cannot compete.
In October, foreign ministers of energy rich Gulf monarchies and Turkey held a new round of talks aimed at boosting economic and political ties and signing a free trade agreement. The meeting saw the formation of working groups on economic and cultural sectors including transport, education and health. The GCC and Turkey in September 2008 signed a memorandum of understanding to achieve a strategic partnership in all fields. But negotiations never yielded the conclusion of an FTA between the GCC and Turkey.
Back in October, Mr Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al Attiyah secretary general of GCC said that although there was some progress in certain aspects of cooperation, obstacles to a free trade agreement still existed declining to specify details. Observers, however, point out differences in the steel market creating obstacle in the conclusion of FTA talks.
In 2008, GCC exports to Turkey rose fivefold over 2007 and imports from Ankara increased a massive 15 fold, mostly on steel and iron products. Trade volume between the GCC and Turkey grew from USD 1.5 billion in 1999 to USD 17.5 billion in 2008. It took a dive in 2009 because of the economic crisis and nicely bounced back up in 2010.