NEWS FROM TÜRKİYE

The New Anatolian - Turkish exports to neighboring regional countries rose by 35.5 percent in 2007 and reached 40.5 billion USD in 2007, according to figures released by the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade. Exports to the seven neighboring countries grew 28.5 percent to reach 11.1 billion USD, with Iraq getting biggest share with 2.8 billion USD. Exports to 45 regional countries rose to 29.4 billion USD to mark an increase of 38.4 percent and Russia was the biggest buyer of Turkish goods in 2007. Meanwhile, exports also made a promising start in 2008, increasing by 39.9 percent in January over to the same period of the previous year. The total amount for January 2008 was 945.7 million USD.