Investment agency takes action after closure case verdict
Posted by meb at August 1st, 2008
Following the decision of the Constitutional Court not to shut down the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) is preparing to accept new proposals from 20 firms that had previously suspended investments because of the lawsuit against the AK Party.
Speaking to Today’s Zaman yesterday, ISPAT President Alpaslan Korkmaz stated that the barriers before Turkey were removed with the court’s decision. “A number of mid and large-size firms had suspended their investments for the past two to three months. Now we can confidently ask these firms to resume their investments in Turkey because the court ruled against the closure of the ruling party.” He noted that these firms are expected to bring in roughly $3 billion in investment.
The Treasury had to revise targets vis-à-vis capital inflow because of the decisions by foreign firms to suspend their investments following the launch of the closure case in March. The Treasury had earlier estimated that the original year-end foreign direct investment (FDI) target of $18.5 billion for 2008 would probably not be reached since many investors had apparently changed their minds and headed to other destinations after considering the atmosphere of political and economic uncertainty created by the closure case in Turkey.
According to Korkmaz, who noted that investors became hesitant after the filing of the closure case, foreign economic actors are still confident that reforms will be completed in the mid and long term. He said ISPAT would announce additional investments in the days to come. “We are currently engaged in talks with a number of firms. A number of firms whose names cannot be disclosed now will make investments,” he added.
Korkmaz stated that ISPAT had achieved important things in a very short period of time and that “there is no other agency in the world in which 10 languages are fluently spoken.” ISPAT provides service through an international network composed of 30 professionals who have strong experience in international business, as well as representatives based in the US, England, France, Italy, Russia, Israel, Gulf countries, Kazakhstan, China, India and Japan.
source: Today’s Zaman
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