ISTANBUL: The Netherlands will enhance its cooperation with Trkiye in many fields such as trade, construction, logistics, and manufacturing, said the Dutch minister of foreign trade and development cooperation on Thursday. "The Netherlands and Trkiye have strong economic ties, the Netherlands is the biggest foreign direct investor in Trkiye," Reinette Klever told Anadolu in Istanbul, which she visited to hold meetings with Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat and Turkish and Dutch companies working in Trkiye.

According to Anadolu Agency, Klever stressed that over the last five years, trade between Trkiye and the Netherlands has risen significantly. "Exports from the Netherlands to Trkiye doubled, and exports from Trkiye to the Netherlands also grew 50%."

Stating that Trkiye enjoys a key geographical position between Asia and Europe, Klever highlighted that Trkiye and the Netherlands could cooperate to use this to their advantage to bring goods from Asia through Trkiye. "Trkiye is focusing on the digitization of its manufacturing industry, and Dutch companies are good at that, so there are a lot of opportunities to enhance our cooperation," she noted.

The reconstruction of Syria was discussed briefly at the meeting, she said, adding that there are also ways they can work together and help Syria in the post-Assad era.