LONDON - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen opened on Wednesday the second ''Turquality Fashion Show'' fair in London, Britain.
Tuzmen held a press conference in the opening of fair in which nearly 50 Turkish ready-made clothing firms attended. Tuzmen said that Turkey would continue the competition as a country which sold its qualified products with high prices also after 2005 during which the world trade would be reshaped.
Underlining the importance of textile and ready-made clothing sector which met one third of Turkish export, Tuzmen said that they opened the second fair within the scope of Turquality concept with this aim.
Tuzmen said that competition would be more important after 2005 within the activities of World Trade Organization and they aimed to present Turkish export products to groups which had high quality consumer preferences with these kind of fairs. He added, ''we have prepared the concept and we are giving every type of support. We are trying to fill the concept. So, we are preparing the basis for consumer to prefer Turkish products.''
Tuzmen said that Britain was an important commercial partner of Turkey. Recalling that Turkey had exported goods worth of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars to Britain and bought goods in the same ratio between January 1 and end of June, Tuzmen said that they expected this figure to reach 7 billion U.S. dollars if 12 months were taken into consideration.
Emphasizing that they aimed to increase trade volume with Britain to 10 billion U.S. dollars in the coming period, Tuzmen said that they also aimed to increase market share of Turkish textile in Britain for this.
Noting that Turkey was trying to become a country which was marketing its own designs, not a country which only produced the products of foreign firms in textile and ready-made clothing, Tuzmen said, ''we have big advantages in this field. Turkey is the second in Europe and third in the world as a producer in textile field.''
Tuzmen said that Turquality concept was promoted firstly in textile and ready-made clothing, but it would spread to all sectors. He added that the regression in the growth rate of the European Union (EU) affected Turkish exporters negatively.
Upon a question regarding Cyprus trade, Tuzmen said that Turkey wanted to make trade with both sides of Cyprus and to form a free trade zone in Mediterranean. He added that this was the only way to eliminate political difficulties easily.
(GC-AÖ) 03.09.2003