Novelli calls for an ‘ambitious partnership’ with Turkey
Posted by meb at February 19th, 2008
French Minister of State for Business and Foreign Trade Hervé Novelli addressed a large crowd of French and Turkish business people yesterday about the present and future of bilateral commercial relations.
At a time when the political dialogue between Paris and Ankara remains rather cold, French Minister Novelli braved İstanbul’s heavy snowfall to deliver a speech in front of 180 heads of French and Turkish companies yesterday.
“Beyond the current debates, Turkey’s future is intimately related to that of Europe and France, and there is nothing contradictory about that,” Novelli said during a luncheon conference hosted by the French-Turkish Chamber of Commerce at Ortaköy’s Feriye Restaurant. The gathering was part of a four-day visit that will bring Novelli, along with representatives of 41 French companies, from İstanbul to Ankara and Mersin. The French official’s journey to Turkey aims at developing the commercial ties between France and Turkey in the fields of training, research, innovation and investment. “France is confident in the future of Turkey,” Novelli stated during his speech, attended by the French Ambassador to Turkey Bernard Emié. “Turkey is the 16th world economy; it benefits from a competitive industry that continues to modernize itself, boosted by a sustained domestic consumption. Our countries should build an ambitious partnership.”
According to Turkish statistics, France is the third foreign investor in Turkey, after the Netherlands and the United Kingdom but before Germany. Some 260 French companies are established in Turkey, employing 65,000 people.
But while bilateral trade has grown by 13.3 percent to reach about 10 billion euros in 2007, French exports to Turkey have become sluggish and even slowed down by 0.1 percent to reach 5.1 billion euros at the end of 2007. Those figures are in sharp contrast with the increase of French imports from Turkey.
In short, increasing imports from Turkey mainly contribute to the growth of commercial exchange between the two countries — a situation that Novelli urged Turkish businessmen to correct without further delay. “Our Turkish friends are welcome in France, and we will continue to invest in Turkey,” the minister noted. “Even more so, Turkey is at the top of the list of countries where France intends to redouble efforts to accompany firms in their projects, starting with small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs].”
source: Today’s Zaman
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