Turkey’s trade with the Turkic republics of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan reached $9.4 billion in the first six months of the year, according to Turkish Statistical Institute figures, as Ankara deepens economic ties across the region.
Turkey exported $5 billion worth of goods to the five countries in the period, while importing $4.4 billion, leaving Turkey with a trade surplus of $614.9 million. Kazakhstan was the largest export market, taking $1.5 billion of Turkish goods, followed by Azerbaijan with $1.4 billion, Uzbekistan with $945.6 million, Kyrgyzstan with $594.4 million and Turkmenistan with $583.6 million.
Trade with the Turkic states has strengthened in recent years through steps aimed at deepening economic cooperation, with Turkey focused in particular on construction contracting, energy, transport, industry, agriculture and logistics.
Kazakhstan, Turkey’s largest trading partner in Central Asia, has cooperation with Ankara spanning energy, transport and logistics, agriculture, defence, technology, construction and investment, with more than 3,000 Turkish-capital companies currently operating in the country. The two sides have set a target of $15 billion in bilateral trade, underpinned by a railway agreement linked to the Middle Corridor aimed at increasing the volume and quality of rail freight along the route, including regular block train services and greater freight traffic via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Defence cooperation has also grown in recent years, with the two countries working on the production, maintenance and repair of Turkish ANKA drones in Kazakhstan.
Turkey and Azerbaijan, meanwhile, are pursuing cooperation across trade, industry, investment, construction and energy under a 110-point action plan signed last year, with a shared target of $15 billion in bilateral trade, supported by agreements on investment protection and the avoidance of double taxation.
With Uzbekistan, cooperation has focused on free trade zones, defence industry and the digital economy, including an agreement signed earlier this year on sharing expertise in free zone design, management and promotion, alongside joint efforts to improve the investment climate in those zones. Talks are also under way on establishing an Uzbek-Turkish organised industrial zone modelled on Turkey’s OSTİM industrial zone.
