Turkey's finance minister heralds $50.7 billion deals with UAE as Erdogan tours Gulf nations

Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have signed deals worth $50.7 billion as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rounded off a three-country tour of the Gulf.

“Today we have witnessed the signings of several strategic agreements and (memoranda of understandings) worth a total of $50.7 billion to further cement ties between the UAE and Turkey,” Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek tweeted late Wednesday.

Today we have witnessed the signings of several strategic agreements and MOUs worth a total of USD 50.7 billion to further cement ties between the UAE and Turkiye.

The agreements across a range of sectors including export financing, earthquake bonds, energy, defence,…

— Mehmet Simsek (@memetsimsek) July 19, 2023

The agreements involve export financing, earthquake bonds, energy, defense and other sectors.

Erdogan embarked on a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE on Tuesday, seeking trade and investment opportunities for Turkey’s floundering economy.

Inflation in Turkey was 38% last month, down from a high of 85% in October, while the budget deficit widened to $8.37 billion in June, seven times the level of a year earlier.

Ankara has repaired ties with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over the last two years following a decadelong split with the Arab states.

Timothy Ash, an emerging markets analyst at London’s BlueBay Asset Management, said the deals represented a “new strategic relationship between Turkey and the Gulf states.”

Describing a “real triumph for Erdogan and his team,” Ash said similar commitments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait could help Ankara as it begins a period of economic reform that embraces more orthodox policy-making.