US firms interested in Turkish market: Report

ANKARA

The CEOs of several U.S.-based companies expressed their interest in investing in Turkey during a video call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on May 31.

Citing unnamed presidential sources, the report said executives of many energy, agriculture, finance, health, information, tourism and aviation firms in the U.S. spoke during the meeting.

Trade ties between Turkey and the U.S. could form a base to strike a free trade agreement and upgrade the Customs Union agreement between Turkey and the European Union, some participants said.

The video conference call on May 26 included officials from Amazon, Boeing, Cargill, Cisco, Hilton, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg, Microsoft, Netflix, PepsiCo, Cisco, Procter & Gamble and The Coca Cola, according to a video aired via Turkish broadcasters.

Erdoğan thanked companies that believed in Turkey and said he expects the U.S. to be more constructive, adding U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel remain a problem.

“I believe we will make Turkey ... a base for production and technology,” he told the executives via a translator in televised remarks.

“By simplifying our incentive system, we will ensure that investors can take advantage of incentives easily,” he said.

Erdoğan also said that Turkey and the U.S. should bring mechanisms for economic strategy and partnership to life and that he was aiming for a $100 billion trade volume between the two countries.

The president said none of the supply-chain setbacks seen in other countries during the pandemic were witnessed in Turkey.

“We have differentiated positively during that time in areas of investment, employment, production, logistics, public safety and social support,” he said.

Erdoğan and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, are slated to meet on June 14 on the sidelines of a NATO summit.