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ASIA FOCUS
Long seen as a key East-West link, Turkey is beginning to tap greater potential for trade and investment with the Asia Pacific region, reports Sriwipa Siripunyawit in Istanbul
Turkey, the land that bridges Asia and Europe, could emerge as a new investment destination for Thai businesses due to its geographical attractiveness and logistical advantages.
For several decades, Turkey has been viewed as one of the world's more attractive tourist destinations as it was a cradle of world civilisation. Today the country has gradually become a vibrant destination for investment and international trade as well, attracting capital from countries in Europe, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.
To promote its trade with other regions, for the past few years the country has staged "bridge" events with African, Eurasian and Asia Pacific countries. The recent Turkey-Asia/Pacific Foreign Trade Bridge II was held on June 17 and 18 in Istanbul, by the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (Tuskon).
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| A Turkish family and Chinese tourists make their way through a produce market just off Istiklal Street in Taksim, Istanbul. — BLOOMBERG NEWS |
The event attracted more than 420 companies from 22 countries and was expected to result in almost 20,000 bilateral business meetings with 2,000 Turkish businesspeople. It was the follow-up from last year's Turkey-Asia Pacific programme which resulted in almost 8,000 bilateral meetings that were estimated to have generated business volume of US$250 million.
According to Minister of State Kursad Ruzmen, Asia Pacific is a "centre of attraction", accounting for 30% of all global trade.
"Our main goal is to increase our export volume to the Asia-Pacific countries from $2 billion in 2004 to $8 billion by 2010," he said in an interview.
"We've seen positive results since the beginning of 2005 to our trade development activities and from our political will. Our export figures to the region reached $3 billion (in 2006) and $4 billion at the end of 2007."
Apart from aggressive international trade activities, Tuskon's president Rizanur Meral noted that Turkey had benefited from several attractions including its position as the gateway to Europe and still-low production and labour costs compared to many other countries in the world.
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| Meral: Asia Pacific centre of attraction |
"Our core advantage is that all the goods exported to the EU will be free from duty. So it makes Turkey a special location for exporting to Europe," he said.
"On the production side, we are strong in the food processing industry, car components, electrical machinery and several other kinds of heavy industries."
On top of that, he continued, with a population of 68 million, the country is considered a serious market where investors can enjoy a huge consumer base.
Exports from Turkey to countries in Asia for the first four months of this year increased by 53% in value from the same period of last year. Last year's total export figure reached $5.2 billion.
However, there are still some crucial hindrances to foreign investment into Turkey. They include high inflation, currently at 10%, and political uncertainty arising from the government's attempts to keep Turkey a secular society in the face of pressure from some elements in the 98% Muslim population.
Mr Meral admitted that the ongoing political problems in the country had affected foreign direct investment (FDI). He said the FDI figures had slowed down by 50% from the beginning of this year.
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| Un: Construction shows high potential |
"That's because foreign investors don't feel safe about the situation. However, this is just temporary. The problem will be resolved soon," Mr Meral said.
Selcuk Un, the Turkish commercial counsellor in Thailand, agreed that there was high trade potential between Turkey and Thailand.
"The two countries can create a big bridge in international business. We have a variety of products that Thais and buy and sell here, and vice versa," he stressed.
He said that Thailand and Turkey could be considered rivals in a few industries, notably automobiles, textiles and food. "However we have very good potential in the construction and building material businesses. ... We can even finish projects earlier and cheaper when compared to contractors from other countries. And we have had very good profiles for many big projects including those along the gulf," Mr Un said.
Dried food and dried fruits represent another sector in which Thai businesses could benefit, possibly through arrangements including barter trade with Turkey. Designers and architects are also attractive professions as the service is costly in the local market.
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