Istanbul to host major PPP event this week

ISTANBUL

Some 200 participants from 41 countries will gather for the Istanbul Public Private Partnership (PPP) Week event between Jan 16 and 19.

This will be the eighth edition of PPP Week. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu is also expected to attend the Istanbul PPP week.

“This is the world’s largest PPP event. This year’s theme is ‘Invest in people, climate and economy,” said Eyüp Vural Aydın, the chairman of the Istanbul Public-Private Partnership Center of Excellence (Istanbul PPPCoE).

Delegations from 41 countries, including Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, will be present at the event, according to Aydın.

Along with development banks, officials from the United Nations will also attend the Istanbul PPP Week this year, he said.

High-level officials from PPP organizations in Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman and the Gulf countries, as well as African and Central Asian nationals, will be in Istanbul for the event, Aydın added.

“Egypt will be presented by a delegation for the first time.”

Representatives from the Gulf countries had already arranged meetings with Turkish companies even before arriving for the event, Aydın said. “We will sign cooperation agreements with PPP offices of Dubai and Belarus. The United Nations seeks ways to cooperate.”

Some 15 Turkish companies will take part in the Istanbul PPP Week, he noted.

The event is organized by the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) PPP committee and coordinated by the Trade Ministry.

“If 41 countries are participating in this event, it means Türkiye is an important player in the PPP market. Turkish companies have a good reputation,” Aydın said.

He recalled that recently Limak was awarded a contract to remodel Spanish football club Barcelona’s home ground, Camp Nou.

“Turkish companies are particularly well positioned in developing nations. But they have started to assume big projects in Europe,” he said.

Aydın stressed that there is a financing problem. “There have been talks on cooperation to overcome this issue. Governments have engaged in talks over the past couple of years.”