TUSKON aims for $20 billion trade volume with South America
Posted by meb at February 3rd, 2009
The Turkish Federation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), which opens new horizons for Turkish investors by building “trade bridges,” expects to reach a mutual trade volume worth $20 billion with South American countries within the next five years.
TUSKON Chairman Rızanur Meral said on Monday that they expected to establish a trade bridge between Turkey and South America and were planning to hold a meeting in June in Turkey and send delegations to the region to conduct preliminary research in South America, meeting with businessmen and seeking mutual trade opportunities. “Our new target is to boost relations with countries in South America,” he said, adding that they would not slow down and would work to expand further and enter new export markets. He said they expected to organize trade fairs and meetings in several countries that they select as starting points with the aim of reaching out to surrounding markets in the region.
TUSKON has attracted much attention among Turkish exporters with its new trade bridges, and businessmen from all over the country have sought TUSKON’s help in launching exports, said Meral, adding that they try to help Turkish entrepreneurs as much as they can. Underlining that South American countries could overcome the crisis with fewer losses than other parts of the world, Meral said the region posed vast opportunities for Turkish entrepreneurs. “However, the countries in the region lack knowledge about Turkey, and we do not know much about them, either. This is an entirely a new market for us,” he said. “One of the best ways to overcome crises is to strengthen global trade relations and increase exports,” Meral said with regard to the negative effects of the ongoing global financial turbulence. The TUSKON head asserted that they hoped to reduce the dominance of the European and US markets in Turkish exports as much as possible, noting that they saw the utmost importance in diversifying Turkey’s export markets. “In the first place, Turkey can export machinery, equipment, automotive supplies and food to South America,” he added.
He recalled that they had established a trade bridge between African countries and Turkey and that Turkey’s exports to Africa had exceeded imports from the continent for the first time in history. He said they were hopeful about the future of trade relations with Africa and added that there were many Turkish entrepreneurs operating in Africa, producing their goods in African countries and selling these products directly to Africa. He said that in addition to Africa, they had set their sights on Middle East, Eastern and Central European and Far Eastern markets and had received positive signals with regard to trade relations with countries in those regions. Noting that TUSKON member companies’ exports to African countries had increased threefold in the last three years, reaching $9 billion by the end of 2008, Meral said Turkey’s exports to the continent had increased by 54 percent in January-November 2008 over the same period the previous year thanks to mutual efforts. He expressed his belief that Turkey would achieve the same success in other markets it had in Africa.
source: Today’s Zaman
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