ANKARA, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Saturday discussed steps to reach the bilateral trade target of 100 billion U.S. dollars.
"We assessed means of achieving 100-billion-dollar trade volume between the two countries. We discussed our export capacity to the US on a sectoral basis such as civil aviation, automotive, automotive supply industry, jewelry, furniture, textile, and what we can do to activate this capacity," Pekcan said on Twitter.
In this context, the two ministers discussed Turkey's access to certain supply channels in the U.S., and agreed to prepare programs for companies by sectors.
"We will start this process as soon as possible. We also conveyed our concrete expectations regarding the removal of certain obstacles and practices in our bilateral trade," she said.
Ross will continue his visit in Turkey until Tuesday and is expected to meet with representatives of the Turkish private sector.
"We are due to meet on Tuesday once again to go over the outcome of the visit as well as determine our roadmap," Pekcan added.
The U.S. agenda covers import of agricultural products, applications in pharmacology, lowering logistics costs, data protection regulations, and the challenges facing American companies due to steps to be taken in the 5G area.
The aviation sector in Turkey, energy, health and medical devices, e-chemistry and finance are the primary focus of the U.S. side.
Ross' visit comes after strained relations between the two NATO countries over Turkey's purchase of Russia's S-400 missile defense system, due to which Washington suspended partnership with Ankara in the F-35 fighter jet program in July.
