RIYADH: Turkiye aims to increase its trade volume with Syria to $10 billion as bilateral commerce surged more than 40 percent year on year to a record $3.75 billion in 2025, an official revealed.
Speaking at a meeting titled Free Trade and Industrial Zones in Syria and the Investment Environment in Ankara, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Polat said both countries remain committed to reaching the trade target by boosting production and investment.
He added that the respective governments are also working to strengthen and modernize land border crossings and maritime transport routes to support further growth in bilateral trade, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, citing Anadolu Agency.
Earlier this year, Turkiye eased trade restrictions with Syria by removing long-standing limits on exports, imports and transit imposed on the previous administration while aligning customs procedures with those applied to other trading partners.
The changes have already supported stronger bilateral commerce, with trade in the first four months of 2026 rising 24 percent year on year to more than $1.35 billion, according to Turkiye’s Presidential Directorate of Communications. In June, the two countries also agreed to resume direct commercial road transport under a 2004 bilateral agreement, further improving cross-border trade and logistics.
“Trade and passenger traffic across the border crossings between the two countries continues uninterrupted,” Polat said, adding that work is progressing rapidly to open the Nusaybin-Qamishli border crossing, located at the far eastern end of the border, to trade, passenger traffic, and transit before the end of the year.
“The commencement of transit traffic between Turkiye and Syria since last April has contributed to boosting trade with Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, as well as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Bahrain,” the minister said, calling the move “a positive development.”
New transport corridors
Polat emphasized the importance of expanding and establishing new land transport corridors, in addition to oil and natural gas pipelines extending from Turkiye through Syria to Jordan, Iraq, and the Gulf states, amid regional disruptions caused by conflict and the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Turkish minister noted that “the two governments have made progress in accelerating transit trade with the Gulf states,” recalling that “transit traffic through Saudi Arabia, which had been halted for about 14 years, as well as through Syria and Jordan, resumed regularly starting April 15.”
The transport ministers of Syria, Jordan, and Turkiye signed a memorandum of understanding in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on April 7 to develop the transport and logistics sectors. The agreement aims to lay the foundation for major strategic projects that will enhance the movement of goods and passengers, boost exports and transit revenues, revitalize ports, expand market access and strengthen regional shipping connectivity.
