Turkey's minister of State for Foreign Trade and Customs, Mr Kursad Tuzmen will lead a Turkish trade delegation to the United States from September 10-15. The delegation includes more than 60 government officials, business executives and trade association leaders. Sectors covered will include textiles and apparel, jewellery, furniture, leather goods and machinery.

"Turkey has experienced unprecedented growth in the last four years and we are eager to grow our longstanding business relationship with the United States," said Mr Tuzmen.

Representatives from the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters' Association (ITKIB) will be part of the delegation. The association is made up of 17,000 members accounting for 20% of all Turkish exports including clothing, textiles and leather goods.

In an effort to enhance US-Turkey commercial relations, the government of Turkey has declared 2006-07 ‘The Year of Turkey in America’. Turkey aims to implement a trade development strategy that focuses on increasing trade between the two countries and attracting new American investment in Turkey.

Between 2000-2005, bilateral trade increased from $7 billion to $10.5 billion. The United States is Turkey's fourth largest export market and sixth largest source of imports. Europe is Turkey's largest single trading partner, accounting for 46% of its international trade flows. The country has greatly increased trade with neighbouring and surrounding countries from $22 billion in 2002 to $57 billion in 2005.