Big investors from US, Asia on way to Turkey

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

ISPAT President Aycı says a major North American firm is set to invest in Turkey.

Within the next few weeks a large firm from North America will be coming to invest in Turkey, President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) İlker Aycı has said at a press conference, without disclosing the name. He also said that European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were showing significant interest in Turkey.

“[The North American firm] is active in the manufacturing sector and the total investment will be close to that of Sumitomo’s investment amount,” he said. Japanese company Sumitomo has just announced that it will be investing $400 million in a tire factory in Çankırı.

Aycı told reporters that in the first seven months of 2012, Turkey received $8.9 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), on a par with 2010’s inflow but six percent less than the FDI amount in the same period last year. He said that in the January-July period Turkey received 133 projects from abroad and that 26 had been registered in July alone.

“With the new incentive scheme in June, this trend has been moving upward. Of the total $2 billion in investment documents, $550 million were received in July, indicating an upward trend,” Aycı said.
With regard to European SMEs, Aycı explained that ISPAT was focusing especially on this segment and holding meetings with European SMEs to outline opportunities in Turkey, including the various incentives. “We have begun to see results,” he said.

ISPAT is also focused on attracting investors from China and Japan, as well as from the Gulf countries. One of two Chinese firms active in solar energy could soon invest in Turkey, according to Aycı.