Ambassador Bozkurt Aran, former Permanent Representative of Turkey to the WTO, has been appointed to the TEPAV Center for Multilateral Trade Studies (MUTS)

ANKARA – TEPAV established the Center for Multilateral Trade Studies (MUTS) to follow developments in the world trading system and the multilateral trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ambassador Bozkurt Aran, former Permanent Representative of Turkey to the WTO, was appointed director of the center.

Commenting on the Center for Multilateral Trade Studies, TEPAV Director Güven Sak stated that given the recent state of Turkey’s foreign trade, it was of great importance to monitor developments in global trade closely, and particularly the trade negotiations within the WTO, the major international organization in the field. Stressing that Turkey has now reached a position to contribute to the rules of multilateral trade, Sak added:

“Within TEPAV, we have opened a Center for Multilateral Trade Studies that will monitor the developments in the world trading system and especially the multilateral trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization in order to inform the public, business circles, and NGOs, and to provide research-based assistance to policy makers.

Thanks to the Customs Union with the European Union, Turkey differs from other countries in the multilateral trading system. Turkey, which targets a higher level of trade liberalization with developed countries for industrial products, has to adopt this approach also for the services trade. On the other hand, defensive interests regarding the agricultural sector came to the fore due to both the size of the agricultural population and the structure of the sector. In addition, the global rules of foreign trade are expected to change substantially given the current era of crisis. From this perspective, it will be highly beneficial to help the Turkish private sector to monitor and when necessary contribute to the issues that are being negotiated at the WTO, which at the end are adopted as rules of global trade.”

Ambassador Aran: “We will cooperate with the centers in China, Brazil, India and Europe”

Ambassador Bozkurt Aran, Director of the Center for Multilateral Trade Studies, emphasized that developments within the WTO, the dominant actor of the global trade regime, and the multilateral trading system it represents are not duly followed by public institutions, except for the Ministry of Economy, or by the private sector, the business world, NGOs, the media and even academic circles. He said:

“The volume of global trade has improved rapidly and the scope of the rules of international trade has gone beyond tariff and customs measures. Directly connected to trade, issues such as the environment and climate change, energy, food security, animal and plant health, technical standards, competition policy, investments, intellectual property rights, public procurement, labor market regulations and exchange rate and monetary policy have started to play larger roles in the shaping of trade policy.

For this reason, there has appeared a pressing need for a center that will closely monitor and evaluate developments in the world trading system of interest to the TOBB and the Turkish private sector and business world, inform the relevant circles of these developments, and assist them in formulating their positions with regard to trade issues and in proposing these to public institutions.”

Aran stated that the MUTS will work in close cooperation with counterparts in the People’s Republic of China, Brazil, India, and Europe.