French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Christine Lagarde visited Istanbul in June 2006, leading a delegation of 50 French business representatives ranging from major corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises, following meetings of the Turkish-French Business Council.
Lagarde called for restarting a bilateral energy forum that had been dormant for four to five years. She invited Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler to visit France to observe French nuclear energy technology firsthand, with the goal of comparing the two countries' capabilities.
French firms showed interest in several Turkish infrastructure projects, including the Marmaray tunnel, Haydarpasa Port, and a high-speed rail line linking Ankara and Istanbul. The port management company CMA CGM was also reported to be interested in privatization opportunities in Türkiye.
Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said bilateral talks also touched on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Shah Deniz gas project. He set a target of raising the current bilateral trade volume from 9.7 billion dollars to 15 billion dollars within three years, noting that 523 French companies already operate in Türkiye. Planned cooperation areas include energy, automotive, tourism, transportation, agriculture-based industry, and construction.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.