Turkey, EU to invest in pilot third countries

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu says 500 local firms will be involved. AA photo

The European Union’s (EU) delegation to Turkey, the Turkish Economy Ministry and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) have launched a joint project for EU and Turkish firms to invest and trade in third countries, targeting Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine in the first stage.

The EU-Turkey Global Business Bridges Initiative aims to bring EU and Turkish firms together to establish joint business ventures in cooperation with local firms in these pilot countries. The effort to enhance economic relations between EU members, Turkey and neighboring countries will particularly help small- and medium-scale enterprises in Turkey to open up to world markets, according to a press release from TOBB.

“Business consultants and business associations in Turkey, together with chambers of commerce and commercial secretaries in EU member states will choose the companies [in Turkey]. A total of 500 [Turkish] companies will be [involved in this initiative],” said Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the head of TOBB. “EU and Turkish companies will be matched in Turkey in February. Then they will be matched with local companies in Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine in the spring of 2013. … We want these matches to evolve into strategic cooperation, and even into mergers. Such enterprises could potentially make serious economic contributions to countries in the region that are going through political transitions.”

The initiative, based on a trilateral win-win approach, may also contribute to improving EU-Turkey relations, which are in a critical phase, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, adding that the initiative may be expanded to Iraq and Central Asian countries.