ANKARA: Exports of Turkiye to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states have increased by 85 percent over the past five years from $14.1 billion in 2019 to nearly $26.1 billion in 2023.
The share of these states in Turkiye’s overall exports last year was 10 percent. Imports of Turkiye from SCO member countries also reached $106.3 billion last year, which was almost double than $55.6 billion in 2019.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after his visits to Kazakhstan to take part in the 10th Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States and Uzbekistan to participate in the 16th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation last year, will also attend the SCO heads of state summit in Kazakhstan this week.
In addition to energy pacts made by the SCO member countries, which control a significant portion of the global natural gas reserves, the benefits of infrastructure and transportation projects connecting the countries are also noteworthy.
In this context, Turkiye is becoming part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative project. In addition, an agreement on a China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, which is planned to be built under the program, was signed last month.
