The Forum That Could Shape UK–Türkiye Trade’s Next Chapter

When the Turkish Ambassador and the Chairman of the oldest British business institution in Türkiye share a stage in central London, the conversation tends to matter. On 27 March 2026, it is happening — and the agenda is more urgent than it might first appear.

Sixty-nine Portland Place is not a building most Londoners would recognise. But for the UK–Türkiye business community, it has hosted some of the most consequential bilateral conversations of recent years. On Friday 27 March 2026, it will again. The Türkiye–UK Strategic Trade & Investment Forum, co-hosted by the Turkish Embassy in London and the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey, brings together two panels, three keynote speakers, and a roomful of delegates to address a relationship that is worth billions — and that is, by most measures, significantly underperforming its potential.

The Institution Behind the Event: 139 Years in the Room

Before examining what will be discussed at Portland Place, it is worth understanding who is doing the convening — because the BCCT is not a typical events organisation, and its involvement gives the forum a weight that a standard industry gathering would not carry.

The British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey was established in 1887, making it the second oldest British Chamber of Commerce established abroad — after the one set up in France. Bcct That longevity is not merely ceremonial. Today, BCCT is a non-profit organisation that bridges Turkey’s dynamic economy with the UK’s value-added economy, helping businesses from both countries establish long-lasting, mutually beneficial commercial relationships. Hyatt Hotels

Since 2014 alone, BCCT has served more than 700 UK clients, delivered hundreds of market-related services, and contributed to export wins totalling more than £75 million. LinkedIn The chamber operates at the intersection of the private and public sectors: it handles business-to-business relations while the British Consulate’s Department for International Trade manages government-to-government connections — with occasional overlap on high-value infrastructure and strategic development projects. Bcct

BCCT has signed memoranda of understanding with the 14 largest Turkish chambers of commerce, collectively representing more than 800,000 Turkish enterprises. Hyatt Hotels That network — combined with BCCT’s own database of approximately 12,000 companies — gives it a reach that few bilateral organisations can match.

The forum’s co-host on the British side is Chris Gaunt OBE, BCCT Chairman since 2013 and one of the most experienced voices in UK–Turkish commercial relations. On the Turkish government side, H.E. O. Koray Ertaş, the Turkish Ambassador to the UK, will co-chair — a pairing that signals this is not a routine networking event but a forum with genuine diplomatic backing.

The Context: A Relationship That Has Been Growing, But Not Fast Enough

The UK is today Turkey’s second-largest export market — a position that makes the bilateral relationship critically important to maintain and develop. Bcct Bilateral trade between the two countries has reached significant scale, yet those who work in this space consistently argue that the relationship remains well below what the underlying fundamentals would support.

The UK–Turkey Free Trade Agreement, signed on 29 December 2020 and in force since 1 January 2021, established the tariff-free trading framework that replaced the EU Customs Union arrangements following Brexit. That agreement locked in tariff-free trading arrangements and committed both sides to working towards a more ambitious trade agreement in the future. Bcct Negotiations toward that enhanced agreement have been ongoing — and BCCT has been an active participant in shaping the UK government’s position. The chamber has been continuously engaged with the Department for Business and Trade to share insights on UK–Türkiye Free Trade Agreement enhancement. LinkedIn

It is against this backdrop of an evolving trade architecture, accelerating technology change, and genuine geopolitical uncertainty that Friday’s forum takes place.

Panel One: Strengthening the Technology and Investment Corridor

The first substantive session of the day — running from 15:00 to 16:15 — addresses what organisers have titled Strengthening the Türkiye–UK Trade, Investment and Technology Corridor. The framing is deliberate: “corridor” implies a two-way flow of goods, capital, and knowledge, not merely a supplier-customer relationship.

In practice, this panel is likely to explore several interlocking themes. The current trade architecture under the FTA — its strengths, its gaps, and where both governments see scope for enhancement — will form a natural starting point. Investment flows in both directions have been growing, but they remain heavily concentrated in a handful of sectors and, on the UK side, in a small number of large companies with established Turkish operations.

Technology transfer and joint innovation represent a newer dimension of the bilateral relationship that has been gaining traction. UK companies have increasingly been looking at Turkey as a near-shore production base — a shift accelerated by supply chain concerns during the pandemic and growing unease about over-dependence on distant manufacturing. Bcct That repositioning creates opportunities for technology partnership that go beyond traditional trade in goods.

The presence of Saif Malik as a keynote speaker alongside the Ambassador and Chris Gaunt OBE adds a significant financial services dimension. Malik is a senior figure at Standard Chartered — one of the event’s sponsors — and his participation signals that trade finance, cross-border capital flows, and banking infrastructure will be part of the discussion. HSBC, also a sponsor, further underlines the financial services thread running through the forum.

Panel Two: Talent, Technology and AI — The Corridor’s Long-Term Architecture

The second panel — Future-Proofing the Türkiye–UK Economic Corridor: Talent, Technology and AI-Driven Competitiveness — is in some ways the more forward-looking and potentially the more consequential of the two sessions. It runs from 16:45 to 18:00 and addresses questions that neither government nor the private sector has yet fully answered.

AI-driven competitiveness is now a central concern for every major bilateral economic relationship. The question for UK–Turkish trade specifically is how both countries position themselves in a world where comparative advantage is increasingly determined not by labour costs or resource endowments but by data infrastructure, AI capability, and the ability to attract and retain technically skilled workers.

Türkiye has been investing significantly in technology and digital infrastructure, and its young, highly educated, technically oriented workforce represents one of the country’s most significant economic assets. The UK, meanwhile, has been positioning itself as a global AI hub — hosting the first international AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in 2023 and continuing to attract major technology investment. The intersection of these two trajectories — Turkish technical talent and UK AI infrastructure — is an underexplored area of bilateral opportunity that this panel may, for the first time, place squarely on the agenda.

The talent dimension is equally important and politically sensitive. The movement of skilled workers between the UK and Türkiye — in both directions — has implications for immigration policy, skills recognition, and the broader question of how a bilateral relationship is sustained across human capital as well as financial capital.

The Sponsors: What Their Presence Signals

The forum’s sponsorship roster is worth noting. Standard Chartered and HSBC are among the most globally connected financial institutions operating across both markets — their involvement suggests that trade finance and investment banking infrastructure are expected to feature prominently in the day’s discussions, not merely as backdrop but as active parts of the solution to bilateral underperformance.

Tarabya British Schools — the leading British curriculum school in Istanbul — represents the education and people-to-people dimension that tends to underpin long-term bilateral relationships. And Guden Solicitors, a specialist legal firm with expertise in UK–Turkish matters, signals that legal frameworks, dispute resolution, and corporate governance will also be part of the conversation.

After Portland Place: What Comes Next

The forum concludes with closing remarks at 18:00 and a networking reception running until 20:30 — a signal that the organisers consider the informal conversation as important as the structured sessions. Some of the most consequential UK–Turkish business relationships have been formed in exactly these kinds of post-panel environments, where delegates from both sides can move beyond the scripted and explore what is genuinely possible.

TBMag will be following the forum closely. We will publish a detailed analytical piece following today’s proceedings, incorporating the key themes from both panel discussions and — where speakers agree — direct contributions from those who took part. If the bilateral relationship is as important as both governments say it is, what happens in the room at 69 Portland Place on 27 March 2026 deserves more than a press release. It deserves a proper accounting.

Forum at a Glance

Venue: 69 Portland Place, W1B 1QS, London Co-hosts: H.E. O. Koray Ertaş, Turkish Ambassador to the UK & Chris Gaunt OBE, BCCT Chairman Sponsors: Standard Chartered · HSBC · Tarabya British Schools · Guden Solicitors