PM calls for more Japanese companies to invest in Turkey’s mega projects

ANKARA - Nikkei

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said he will discuss infrastructure development with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who will visit Turkey for the upcoming Group of 20 summit.

“I want to see more Japanese investments in megaprojects, like a third nuclear power plant,” Davutoğlu said on Nov. 12.

China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Co. and Toshiba unit Westinghouse have expressed interest in this phase of Turkey’s nuclear power buildup. The Russians won the contract for the first nuclear plant, while a Franco-Japanese consortium co-led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was chosen to build the second.

He also cited expanding the Afşin-Elbistan coal-fired power plant complex, and spanning the Dardanelles with one of the world’s longest suspension bridges, as opportunities for Japanese cooperation.

More than 2 million refugees from Syria have entered Turkey, placing a “huge burden on our shoulders,” Davutoğlu also said.

He called the refugee crisis the “the most important humanitarian issue” and said it is sure to be on the agenda for G-20 leaders at the summit starting on Nov. 15. A proposed 3 billion euros ($3.22 billion) in aid to Turkey, in exchange for keeping refuges from heading across the Mediterranean, “is still on the table, but it is just a starting point,” Davutoğlu said.

“For us, the issue is not only money,” he added. “For us, it is a humanitarian issue.”