Multinationals meet in Istanbul for investment

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

The eighth meeting of the Investment Advisory Council of Turkey was held Oct 31 to discuss what Turkey offers to direct investors, with the attendance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. AA photo

A-levels of a number of large companies, which post over $572 billion of revenue in total of 12 different countries, have attended the eighth meeting of the Investment Advisory Council of Turkey.

The meeting was held yesterday to discuss what Turkey offers to direct investors and how to improve the country’s investment climate with the attendance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Deputy PM Ali Babacan, as well as the heads of Turkey’s leading business organizations.

“We take all factors that affect the investment climate into consideration and we work to improve investment conditions. We give great importance to your special contributions, helping us in creating a real jump in our economy, increasing high quality products, employment and productivity and decreasing imports,” Erdoğan said in his speech to the companies’ high representatives, which employ around 1.4 million people worldwide, from France’s Alstom and Japan’s Hitachi to the U.S.-based Citigroup and German E.ON.

The council was established in 2004 with the participation of senior executives from prominent multinational companies in order to address the administrative barriers of investment, improve the image of Turkey as an attractive investment destination and provide an international perspective to the ongoing investment climate reform agenda. Erdoğan addressed the rise in Turkey’s political and economic stability over the last 11 years.

New investments on the way

“Turkey’s exports to its neighbors were only approximately $9 billion in 2002, but are now jumping to over $49 billion. Thanks to the government’s stability-based policies, Turkey has become a center of attraction for investors in the region,” he said.

He noted the amount of direct investment to Turkey has increased to $145 billion at the end of August 2013 from approximately $15 billion in 2002. Many big companies are interested in investing in Turkish economy, as Turkey plans to make over $250 billion through investment in energy, transportation, information technologies, among others, by 2023, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said.

“For instance, the U.S.-based Allied, one of the participants in the meeting, plans to invest $4 billion in Turkey to produce chemicals from coal. All of the firms’ representatives met Prime Minister Erdoğan. Mr. Erdoğan gave some instructions to facilitate the land allocation to these firms. I and our Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek will work to accelerate the process together,” Çağlayan noted. He added other direct investments were on way.