WASHINGTON D.C. - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that rational policies and the capacity to draw foreign capital were necessary for one economy to develop on a sound basis.
Erdogan said that Turkey could not put forward its real potential about this issue yet, adding that ''there was some inefficiency before in our country in respect of the reliable environment which the foreign investors looked for, but today the stability has been ensured.''
Erdogan visited the same day U.S. Chamber of Commerce and attended the breakfast meeting. Addressing the meeting, Erdogan said that Turkey attached great importance to relations with the U.S., adding that economic and commercial aspect of the relations was far from reflecting the cooperation and closeness seen in political and military relations.
Erdogan said that the political and military relations were so comprehensive and deep that they would not be affected from temporary developments, adding that the two countries were close to each other also as they devoted themselves to human rights, rule of law, liberal economy, freedom and as they shared common interests.
Erdogan stressed that the U.S. was one of the important commercial partners of Turkey, adding that Turkey was ranked the 29th in exports of the U.S. and the 36th in the imports of the U.S.
Noting that even if the trade volume with the U.S. was almost 7 billion dollars, Erdogan said that the increase in trade with the U.S. was less than the increase seen in trade with other countries.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey would launch utmost efforts to further improve the commercial relations, adding that ''Turkey applies the most advanced norms in fields of tariffs, intellectual and industrial property rights as it signed customs deal with the EU and as it is a member of the World Trade Organisation and it closely follows the developments in these fields. In this respect, it is for sure that Turkey has a special and privileged status among other developing countries. We expect the U.S. to take this into consideration and assume an encouraging role in respect of liberating applications in industrial products. We attach importance to putting into practice the qualified industrial zones which we could form with the U.S. in short term as we regard it as the most productive preferential trade system.''
Erdogan said that Turkish economy recorded significant success despite Iraq crisis and this success showed that Turkish economy was developing on a strong ground.
World economy circles appreciated Turkish economy thanks to performance of the government in 2003 and its determined and stable policies, Erdogan stated.
Erdogan noted that market and sector representatives also had similar optimistic observations about Turkish economy.
Turkey offered new perspectives to investors who wanted to open to new developing markets thanks to its unique geographical location, Erdogan stressed.
Erdogan went on saying, ''developments especially in the period following collapse of bi-polar system have brought to daylight cooperation opportunities in regions which has cultural, historical and economic ties with our country like the Caucasus, Central Asia, Balkans and Middle East. It is obvious that it will be beneficial for Turkish and U.S. companies to search for cooperation opportunities in third countries and make joint investments. In this context, success of Turkish companies in contracting services in Afghanistan is an important reference for efforts to reconstruct Iraq. We expect U.S. authorities to encourage U.S. companies to make joint investments with our companies in third countries, including Iraq.''
''An economy can have a sound development not only due to rationalistic policies but also due to its capacity to attract foreign investments. I would like to underline importance of foreign capital. Unfortunately, Turkey hasn't realized its real potential yet. We are aware of its reasons. There were gaps in atmosphere of confidence in our country which is wanted by foreign investors. But, Turkey has ensured economic stability thanks to the majority government. Foreign investors are aware of these developments. Our government is conscious of the need to facilitate foreign investments and lift bureaucratic hurdles and is working to achieve this goal,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan called on U.S. companies to cooperate and make joint projects with Turkish companies.
(Öª-BRC-AÖ) 29.01.2004