Turkish-Arab Economic Forum: $29 billion trade exchange
Friday, 11 June 2010
Friday, 11 June 2010
Despite the global financial crisis, the Turkish-Arab trade volume topped USD 29 billion in 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish-Arab Economic Forum.
"There are more than 2,000 Arab firms doing business in Turkey with their total investments amounting to USD 6.2 billion between 2008 and 2009," Erdogan noted.
Erdogan opened the Third Turkish Arab Economic Forum with heads of government and ministers of foreign affairs and economy from the 22 Arab countries and Turkey attending.
In a keynote speech to the gathering, Erdogan affirmed that the economic ties between his country and the Arab countries were on the right track.
"The bilateral economic and political ties between the two sides advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade with trade volume growing from USD seven billion in 2002 to USD 37 billion in 2008," he said.
"Despite the global financial crisis, the Turkish-Arab trade volume topped USD 29 billion in 2009.
He called for closer people-to-people exchanges, affirming that Turkey's doors were wide open for "the Arab brothers" willing to tap into "the abundant investment opportunities here." "Turkey, rated as the world's 17th largest economy and the sixth European economy, was able to overcome the global financial crisis.
"The country is set to notch up a 6-7 percent growth rate a year and emerge as the world's tenth largest economy in 2023," he added
On his part, Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa said there were huge potentials of economic cooperation between the Arab countries and Turkey.
"This forum constitutes a new big stride towards Arab-Turkish economic integration," Moussa said.
He voiced hope that the trade volume between the two sides would rebound after the decline of 2009.
The Turkish-Arab Economic Forum, organized under auspices of Erdogan by Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group in cooperation with the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), brought together over 700 dignitaries from both sides.
The key speakers at the gathering include Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri, Palestinian Prime Minister Salem Fayyad, Somalia Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh and Arab League's General Coordinator for the Arab Economic, Social, and Development Summit Mervat Tallawy.
The agenda of the gathering includes; an update on economic developments, economic reforms and the changing investment environments in Turkey and the Arab countries; a Finance Summit where the ministries of finance from both sides will discuss the outlook of their financial markets; the political and economic cooperation between Turkey and the Arab world, on one hand, and the Eurasian countries, on the other; and the prospects of launching joint projects in oil and gas industries as well as the heavy industries.(KUNA, Turkish Media)
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