Turkish PM to address foreign investors in UK next week

ANKARA

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Jan. 17 started a one-week European tour including London, Davos and Berlin, during which he will meet foreign investors and discuss counter-terrorism measures with European counterparts. 

Davutoğlu will address the opening of a Turkish investment conference in London, organized by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and also speak at events arranged by Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs and the Foreign Economic Relations Board. He will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek, several other ministers, and a number of senior economy officials. 

It will be their first meeting with investors abroad since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won back its parliamentary majority in November. The cabinet announced its revised Medium-Term Economic Program ahead of visits to Turkey from investors on Jan. 11. 

The meetings in Europe will aim at convincing investors that Ankara will push through reforms including privatizations and labor market liberalization, according to sources. 

Davutoğlu will also meet his counterpart David Cameron in London to discuss Cyprus reunification talks, the situation in Syria and Iraq, and counter-terrorism, according to a written statement by the Prime Ministry office on Jan. 16. 

Davutoğlu will attend the Davos Summit on Jan. 20-23 after his meetings in London. 

Europe’s migrant crisis and devastating terror attacks will combine with the plunging oil price and China’s economic slowdown to give the elite of the political and business worlds plenty to talk about when they gather in Davos from Jan. 19. 

At the end of his tour, Davutoğlu will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to hold a high-level cooperation council meeting.