IZMIR - Turkish exporters are seeking ways to settle the current foreign trade deficit between Turkey and Russia which recently reached 15 billion USD.
Sabahattin Yavuz, representative of a Turkish Exporters' Union in Russia, briefed the Aegean exporters on the Russian market at a meeting held in the Aegean province of Izmir on Saturday.
"Turkey's imports from Russia amount nearly 20 billion USD, while its exportation to this country is only 5 billion USD," Yavuz told the Aegean exporters.
Informing the participants about the Russian economy, he said Russian consumers had a "great tendency to spend money".
He also said, apart from capital Moscow, Russia had 12 cities whose populations exceeded a million each. He said these cities were expecting foreign investors.
Yavuz said that countries such as France and Italy, which held a strong position in the Russian market, opened logistics centers in this country in order to conduct their commercial activities.
He also said Turkey urgently needed to open such a center in Russia as well.
During the first two months of 2008, Russia was ranked the first among the countries from which Turkey imported goods the most. Turkey's imports from Russia exceeded 5 billion USD in that period.
Turkey's exports to this country reached 954 million USD during the same period.
(DO-BRC)