Türkiye takes step toward joining SEPA
Türkiye has submitted a letter of intent to join the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), taking an important step toward financial integration, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has announced.
Once completed, SEPA membership will make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and safer for businesses and citizens on both sides, Şimşek wrote on social media after a meeting with EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis in Istanbul on July 2 for the Türkiye-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue.
EU membership remains Türkiye’s strategic objective, Şimşek stressed. “Our partnership is already strong. Bilateral trade reached a record $233 billion last year, while two-way investment has exceeded $200 billion since 2003. We are not just trading partners. We are part of the same value chains,” he added.
Türkiye has a lot to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness agenda, from new trade, energy and transport corridors to critical minerals, defense industry cooperation and reconstruction capacity, he noted.
