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Stronger trade ties

April 2, 2012

In the past 10 years, Turkey has become an important trade partner for Germany. Export figures have balloned by around 400 percent in the the past decade. But new statistics suggest it's far from a one-way street.

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Turkey has successfully defended its place among the 20 most important trade partners for Germany despite ongoing political tensions over Ankara's bid to join the European Union.

Over the past 10 years, German exports to Turkey have risen almost four times, the Wiesbaden-based National Statistics Office (Destatis) said on Monday. German imports from Turkey doubled between 2001 and 2011.

In 2011 alone, German exports to Turkey amounted to 20.1 billion euros ($26.8 billion), with imports totaling 11.7 billion euros over the same period. The German trade surplus therefore reached 8.4 billion euros.

Cars a major export hit

Turkey last year took 15th place among the recipients of German exports, which totaled 1,060 billion euros worldwide.

Vehicles and auto parts made up the bulk of German to Turkey exports last year and reached a volume of 5.1 billion euros, followed by engineering tools and machinery as well as chemical products.

Turkey for its part was able to export textiles worth 3.2 billion euros to Germany, followed by specialized machine tools.

Trade relations between the two countries continue to profit from a large community of Turkish-born entrepreneurs living and working in Germany. But the government in Ankara has warned Berlin against torpedoing Turkey's bid to join the European Union by suggesting instead a "privileged partnership".

hg/msh (dpa, AFP)