Turkey sets sights on new export markets
Posted by meb at December 1st, 2008
Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen has said Turkey aims to diversify its export markets in response to shrinking demand from European markets.
“There is stagnation in the world markets to a certain degree, and Turkey’s exports have been affected negatively by this fact, but we are diversifying our export markets, particularly at a time when demand from European markets is decreasing,” Tüzmen said on Sunday in Ankara. “We are planning to brace for the shrinkage in European markets by entering new export markets.”
Tüzmen said Turkey will see the benefits of entering new export markets, especially in the long run.
The minister said exports to countries such as China, India, Iran, Iraq and Syria as well as countries in the Gulf region, North Africa and Central Asia would continue to grow in the near future, adding that acting in solidarity with its neighbor countries against the global crisis would have positive effects. Tüzmen also noted that a recent formal visit from China to Turkey brought a new series of business contracts signed between Turkish and Chinese firms amounting to $261 million.
He also noted that the stability in foreign exchange rates will also benefit Turkish exporters. “There is a new balance in foreign exchange rates; $1 will remain around YTL 1.50,” he said. “Turkish exporters should not lose hope and show the courage to enter new markets.”
Meanwhile, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said it was of the utmost importance to seek opportunities in new export markets. “The current importers from Turkey are struggling with the crisis. We need to enter in the markets of the countries that are less integrated with the world,” he said, referring to Syria and Iraq, which he said will come out of the economic crisis with few losses.
source: Today’s Zaman
Hisarcıklıoğlu said the world was going through an uncertain period and that no one knew the way out of the crisis. Speaking in a conference yesterday in Elazığ, Hisarcıklıoğlu asserted that the crisis was transitioning from developed countries to developing countries, increasing its effects on the non-financial sector.
He noted that things were getting worse in the Turkish economy and that growth was slowing. He said consumer confidence was declining and that sectors were suffering from stagnation. “Unemployment is also likely to increase because of poor growth rates in the coming months. These developments are all threatening to the economy,” he said, adding that the Turkish business world expected the government introduce an economic package as soon as possible.
Despite all of this, Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed that Turkey saw the negative effects of the crisis later than other countries thanks to the measures taken by the government. “We learned many lessons from the 2001 crisis,” he added.
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