Minister Bolat announced the targeted export share for OIC countries

Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat attended the Organization of Islamic Cooperation - 'OIC Summit Opening Ceremony' held at the Istanbul Congress Center. In addition to Minister Bolat, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development President Abdullah Saleh Kamel were also present at the summit.

Ministers, senior policy makers, national institutions, chambers of commerce, investors, multinational companies and leading representatives of the business world will come together to evaluate investment, trade and cross-border cooperation opportunities. The summit also held the signing ceremony of 2 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Women's Development Organization (WDO) and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development (ICCD) and between the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Cameroonian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Craftsmen (CCIMA).

'OUR COUNTRIES RECORDED GROWTH OF 4.1 PERCENT IN 2025'

Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat said, "OIC member countries have a significant potential in the global economy with their young and dynamic populations, natural resources, strategic geographical locations, developing production capacities and expanding markets. As a matter of fact, according to SESRIC's 2026 Economic Outlook Report, OIC member countries constitute approximately 1/4 of the world's population today, with a population exceeding 2 billion, and their total economic size reaches 10 trillion dollars.

Our countries recorded growth of 4.1 percent in 2025, above the world average. These figures clearly show the weight that the OIC geography has in the global economy and the opportunities that can arise when we act together. "The real issue is to what extent we can transform this potential we have into concrete investments, production capacity, qualified employment and the welfare of our societies. Therefore, we should consider the economic cooperation within the OIC as a strategic process that will strengthen the position of our countries in global value chains, improve production capacity and increase economic resilience," he said.

'WE ATTACH IMPORTANCE TO STRENGTHENING ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL COOPERATION'

Minister Bolat said, "It is difficult to say that we can adequately utilize the economic potential we have as OIC member countries. As a matter of fact, according to ICDT data, total trade between OIC countries reached approximately 979 billion dollars in 2025. However, the share of intra-OIC trade in the total foreign trade of member countries remained at the level of 19.57 percent.

In other words, approximately 80 percent of the trade of member countries is carried out with countries outside the organization. These data show that we have important opportunities to utilize our common economic potential more effectively, increase value-added production and deepen economic and commercial relations between member countries.

As Türkiye, we attach great importance to strengthening economic and commercial cooperation under the umbrella of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. "In this regard, we see improving trade between member countries, encouraging investments, facilitating trade and deepening relations between our private sectors among our primary goals," he said.

'OUR FOREIGN TRADE VOLUME INCREASED BY 8.2 PERCENT AND REACHED 108.2 BILLION DOLLARS'

Bolat said, "Recently, Türkiye's trade with the OIC countries has increased significantly. Türkiye's total foreign trade volume with the OIC countries was 87.6 billion dollars in 2013, and increased to 119.1 billion dollars in 2025. In the January-September period of 2026, Türkiye's foreign trade volume with the OIC countries increased by 8.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 108.2 billion dollars.

In the same period, exports to these countries amounted to 55.2 billion dollars. We aim to increase the share of OIC countries in our total exports from 27 percent to 30 percent in 2028. Our aim is not only to increase trade volume, but also to make our commercial relations more balanced, diversified and sustainable. In this regard, we are deepening regional economic integration with our initiatives such as the Preferential Trading System Among OIC Member Countries (TPS-OIC), OIC Arbitration Center, COMCEC Gold and Real Estate Exchanges and COMCEC SME Programme. Among these mechanisms, our preferential trading system TPS-OIC has a special place.

TPS-OIC, which came into force on July 1, 2022, has been an important milestone in the development of preferential trade between member countries. "We believe that the development of TPS-OIC will not only increase trade between our countries, but also contribute to the emergence of new investment opportunities and strengthening regional production networks," he said.