Business leaders stress need for closer US-Turkey economic ties

“We are not happy with the volume of trade between Turkey and the U.S.,” the president of Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Ömer Cihad Vardan, said at the eighth Turkey Investment Conference in New York.        
“We have a lot to offer. Turkey is open for business and will support global growth with patience,” he added.        
Vardan stressed that Turkey continued to grow, invest and receive foreign direct investment despite the 2008 financial crisis that resulted in less trade, less manufacturing and less investment around the world.      
  
He said despite the setbacks, “invest in Turkey, trade with Turkey, use Turkey as a hub,” and touted the fact that Turkey has trade relations with 126 countries.        

Ekim Alptekin, who heads the Turkey U.S. Business Council (TAIK), emphasized that the Turkish economy showed resilience against the 2008 financial crisis.   

Alptekin stressed that extreme resilience in a volatile environment was the result of good economic policies in Turkey, but said more could be done to strengthen economic times between Turkey and the U.S.        

“Turkish-American economic relations are not at the level that they should be. It’s not nearly enough,” he said.