Belgium\u2019s Queen Mathilde visited Turkey\u2019s central bank in \u0130stanbul on Tuesday as a Belgian economic mission to Turkey moved deeper into finance, defense, technology and investment cooperation, with Turkish officials saying 27 agreements had already been signed during the visit.<\/p>\n
The queen and the Belgian delegation visited the central bank\u2019s \u0130stanbul Finance Center campus on the third day of the mission\u2019s \u0130stanbul program, Turkey\u2019s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.<\/p>\n
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek, Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur \u00d6zdemir G\u00f6kta\u015f and Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan accompanied the delegation during the visit.<\/p>\n
The visit came as Turkish and Belgian officials used the May 10-14 economic mission to press for deeper ties in trade, finance, defense, aerospace, technology, logistics, energy and health.<\/p>\n
Turkish Trade Minister \u00d6mer Bolat said Tuesday that 27 agreements had been signed during the mission and that more than 30 Turkish companies in defense and technology were expected to sign agreements with Belgian counterparts.<\/p>\n
Bolat also said Belgium had shown growing interest in deeper engagement with Turkey\u2019s defense industry.<\/p>\n
The mission, led by Queen Mathilde, is Belgium\u2019s first royal-level economic mission to Turkey in 14 years.<\/p>\n
It includes Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot, Defense and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken, Brussels-Capital Region Minister-President Boris Dilli\u00e8s, Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele, Walloon Vice President Pierre-Yves Jeholet and hundreds of business representatives.<\/p>\n
Belgium\u2019s Foreign Ministry said before the visit that the mission would focus on energy transition, aerospace and defense, ports, logistics and transport, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and digital technology.<\/p>\n
The ministry said Belgian defense companies would present their activities in Ankara, meet with Turkish companies, attend seminars and workshops and visit local companies and Belgian subsidiaries.<\/p>\n
At the Belgium-Turkey Business Forum in \u0130stanbul on Monday, Pr\u00e9vot, Francken and Bolat signed a joint declaration aimed at developing bilateral trade relations.<\/p>\n
Bolat called for Belgian support for modernizing the Turkey-European Union customs union, saying the current framework needs to be updated to cover today\u2019s trade and investment realities.<\/p>\n
The customs union, which entered into force in 1996, covers industrial goods and processed agricultural products but does not include services, public procurement or most agricultural trade.<\/p>\n
Turkey has long sought an update, arguing that the current system leaves it bound by parts of the European Union\u2019s trade policy without giving it a formal say in decision-making.<\/p>\n
Pr\u00e9vot also backed revising the customs union, telling Anadolu that it made little sense to manage economic relations in 2026 with a framework designed three decades earlier.<\/p>\n
Pr\u00e9vot also gave one of the mission\u2019s strongest political statements, calling Turkey the \u201cguardian of the southeast flank of the European continent\u201d and a strategic partner for Belgium and NATO.<\/p>\n
His remarks came as European governments seek to expand defense production and reduce dependence on outside suppliers after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and amid questions about the future of US security commitments in Europe.<\/p>\n
Pr\u00e9vot said Belgium had reached NATO\u2019s 2 percent of gross domestic product defense spending target last year and would continue investing in defense.<\/p>\n
Francken, who holds both the defense and foreign trade portfolios, has also promoted closer defense industry cooperation with Turkey.<\/p>\n
During the mission, he praised Turkey\u2019s defense industry and said Turkish drone maker Baykar has a \u201cunique place within NATO\u201d because of its focus on innovation, according to Turkish media citing his remarks.<\/p>\n
Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has expanded its defense industry in recent years, producing drones, armored vehicles, naval systems, sensors and military aviation platforms.<\/p>\n
The defense focus was also visible in the mission\u2019s program, though Queen Mathilde\u2019s earlier visit to Baykar and her meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan are best understood as part of the broader political and defense-industry backdrop to the mission.<\/p>\n
Trade and investment were also central to the visit.<\/p>\n
Bolat said Turkey and Belgium aim to raise bilateral trade to $15 billion, up from $9.3 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n
He said Belgian investments in Turkey had reached nearly $5 billion, while Turkish investments in Belgium were approaching $750 million.<\/p>\n
Belgium\u2019s foreign ministry says Turkey is Belgium\u2019s fifth-largest trading partner outside the European Union.<\/p>\n
Belgian officials have described Turkey as a market of more than 85 million people and a manufacturing, logistics and transport hub linking Europe, Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Turkish officials have used the visit to argue that Turkey should be included more fully in European supply chains, defense planning and trade frameworks.<\/p>\n
Bolat said European Union trade and industrial policies should be inclusive and should not exclude Turkish companies from European value chains.<\/p>\n
The official delegation is expected to continue the mission in Ankara on Wednesday and Thursday after Queen Mathilde completes the \u0130stanbul portion of the program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgium\u2019s Queen Mathilde visited Turkey\u2019s central bank in \u0130stanbul on Tuesday as a Belgian economic mission to Turkey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-229275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}