Sun rises from East again, chamber says

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The sun has again begun to rise in the east, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, president of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), said yesterday during the Turkish-Turkmen Business Forum at Çırağan Palace in reference to the two countries’ economic strength.

Hisarcıklıoğlu added that the problems people faced in the world today were the birth pangs of this on coming change. “The collaboration of Turkey and Turkmenistan could change the fate of the whole region [Central Asia]. The number of projects undertaken by Turkish contractors [in Turkmenistan] exceeds 1,000, and the total value of these projects is nearly $25 billion,” he said.

Turkey and Turkmenistan are the leading actors in Central Asia, according to Hisarcıklıoğlu. Under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Turkmenistan has begun to move toward greater development, unlike many countries in the region, he said, adding that Turkmenistan had registered the fastest economic growth rate in Central Asia for the past five years.