Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said Turkey has applied to join the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), along with a series of other economic reforms aimed at strengthening integration with the European Union.
During the economic dialogue between Turkey and the European Union in the Dolmabahçe Palace, at a joint press conference with the European Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, Simsek said that Turkey has sent a letter of intent to the European Payments Council to access the SEPA system, which enables faster, cheaper and safer cross-border transfers in euros, the BBC reported.
SEPA, which functions within the framework of the European Union and the wider European financial network, enables standardized payments in euros between member states and associated countries, including certain states that are not members of the EU, but participate in European financial systems.
Šimšek said that joining the SEPA system would significantly reduce the costs of international transactions for citizens and companies in Turkey, where currently commissions of 15 to 200 euros are paid for sending euros abroad, while within the SEPA system such payments would be significantly cheaper or free.
In addition to financial integration, Šimšek also announced changes to the law on public procurement, which would allow companies from the European Union to participate in Turkish public tenders, with the condition of reciprocity, that is, that Turkish companies have the same access to the markets of those countries.
Dombrovskis assessed that in the “increasingly fragmented global environment” there is significant unused potential for stronger economic cooperation between the EU and Turkey, especially in the areas of trade, infrastructure and logistics.
He singled out infrastructure projects, such as rail corridors in Istanbul, as key to strengthening regional connectivity and trade flows in the wider Black Sea and South Caucasus region.
