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Türkiye is continuing preparations to establish a second Turkish Trade Center in the United States as part of efforts to expand the presence of Turkish companies in the US market and strengthen exports of goods and services, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said.

“We aim to further increase the effectiveness of our Turkish business community in the US market and strengthen our exports of goods and services,” Bolat said.

According to a written statement from the Ministry of Trade, Bolat is currently in the United States to attend meetings of G20 trade ministers and the ministerial meeting of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC).

As part of his visit, Bolat, accompanied by an official delegation, visited the TOBB Turkish Trade Center (TOBB TTM) in Chicago, which was established by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) with support from the Ministry of Trade.

Bolat said the United States is the world’s largest importing country, with a population of approximately 375 million and an import volume of $3.3 trillion.

He said the delegation had examined the activities of TOBB TTM on site, noting that the facility provides Turkish companies with important opportunities under the Overseas Logistics Distribution Networks (YLDA) Project, in addition to operating as a trade center.

Bolat recalled that the ministry introduced YLDA support in 2022, saying the objective was to establish an end-to-end logistics infrastructure that would allow Turkish exporters to access international supply and distribution chains more quickly and under more competitive conditions.

He said three YLDA projects are currently active in Europe, centered on Düsseldorf, Frankfurt-Alzenau and Berlin-Marseille, while two are operating in the United States, based in Chicago and New Jersey, in line with projects approved by the Ministry of Trade.

According to Bolat, these networks contribute to increasing Türkiye’s goods and services export capacity and help exporters maintain sustainable operations in major international markets.

“The activities carried out by TOBB in the US under the Turkish Trade Center structure have been transformed into a Chicago-centered YLDA operation within the framework of our Ministry’s YLDA support. The Chicago-centered YLDA project was approved by our Ministry on October 21, 2022,” Bolat said.

“Under this framework, satellite warehouses have been planned in major commercial centers such as Las Vegas, Tacoma, Kent, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Savannah, Dallas, New Jersey and Philadelphia,” he added.

Bolat said the Chicago-centered YLDA project provides Turkish companies with support in areas including market research, establishing business contacts, company formation, legal and financial consultancy, as well as logistics and operational processes.

The infrastructure also provides a range of services for Turkish export products from a single point, including storage, loading and unloading, handling, shipment, cargo consolidation and splitting, and distribution to different regions across the United States.

“This infrastructure makes it possible to deliver Turkish export products to their final buyers in less than 24 hours, reduce transportation costs through cargo consolidation and provide Turkish companies with savings of up to 50 percent on storage costs,” Bolat said.

Bolat said 165 companies had benefited from YLDA services to date.

He added that more than 500 Turkish companies had received support over the past five years, including 150 companies during the past year, to increase their exports to the US market, with such support continuing.

Bolat said trade and economic relations between Türkiye and the United States were developing with strong momentum.

Bilateral trade volume reached $38.5 billion last year, and Türkiye expects it to increase by around 10 percent to between $42 billion and $43 billion by the end of this year, he said.

The two countries are targeting bilateral trade of $50 billion by the end of 2028, according to Bolat.

He said the mutual increase in exports and imports was a positive development in terms of deepening economic relations between Türkiye and the United States.

“We consider the TOBB Turkish Trade Center and YLDA structure in Chicago to be important infrastructure that increases the competitiveness of our Turkish companies in the US and North American markets. We are also continuing preparations to establish a second Turkish Trade Center in the United States,” Bolat said.

“Thus, we aim to further increase the effectiveness of our Turkish business community in the US market and strengthen our exports of goods and services,” he added.