ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Wednesday that Turkish contractors undertook business worth of 90 million dollars in the last one month in Iraq.
''I think that we will record a significant progress in reconstruction work of Iraq,'' said Tuzmen speaking in a meeting held by Turkish Contractors Union.
Noting that contractors contributed much to the Turkish economy, Tuzmen said that the best performance of the sector was seen between the years 1990-1998. Recalling that contractorship services went down in the year 2000, Tuzmen said that ''I hope we will have one billion dollars in this sector this year. Our target is to reach 3-5 billion dollars.''
Tuzmen said that he visited countries of Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia with contractors and consultant companies in the first half of the year, adding that he held high ranking contacts in these countries to support the sector. Tuzmen said he thought of visiting Kazakhstan in September.
Referring to Iraqi market in his speech, Tuzmen said that Turkish companies completed an important part of projects like houses, hospitals, modernization of factories and pipelines as a result of the studies they started in 2000. ''We invited an Iraqi delegation composed of 40 leading businessmen, we will organize important meetings with them soon,'' Tuzmen said.
Tuzmen stated that deficiencies of Habur customs gate were overcome quickly, adding that the 25-kilometer queues at the gate started to lessen.
Tuzmen said that train trips of Gaziantep, Nusaybin, Al Qamishli, Mosul and Baghdad would re-start in the coming days, adding that Syria gave its order about this issue.
State Minister Tuzmen said that he would visit in 2003 and 2004 Balkan countries which were determined as target markets like the Middle East, Africa and Turkish Republics.
Tuzmen said that Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey decided to decrease customs taxes to 15 percent in the next eight years, adding that this agreement would positively affect the market expansion of contractor sector.
Tuzmen stressed that companies in Turkey had to merge to compete with the world.
Chairman of the Turkish Contractors Union Nihat Ozdemir also shared the view of Tuzmen saying that contractor companies of Turkey had to merge to compete with world's companies.
(Öª) 30.07.2003