Turkey Business Circles Talk About "China Opportunity"

In the autumn of September in Turkey, Turkey, the ancient capital of Istanbul, with a long history and profound cultural heritage, ushered in a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs from a long distance.

The two day Turkey enterprise investment in China has attracted entrepreneurs from different industries and business opportunities. They are communicating face-to-face with each other and talking to each other one by one, writing the long-standing friendly cooperation between China and Turkish from the "Silk Road" era.

From the 80s to the beginning of this century, Turkey's economy was developing rapidly, accompanied by high inflation and high unemployment rate.

Due to the unreasonable economic structure and weak banking system, a serious economic crisis broke out in 1994 and 2001, resulting in a decline of 5% and 9.4% respectively in the national economy.

In November 2002, when the Turkey justice and Development Party came to power, it ended the multi-party joint ruling situation, and adopted a lot of effective reform measures to make the local economy get rid of the crisis gradually, and actively joined the EU negotiations, so as to achieve stable and rapid economic development.

In 2003~2006, the average annual growth of the soil economy was 7.3%.

Turkey is the seventeenth largest economy in the world. Turkey is a traditional agricultural and animal husbandry country. Its main crops and cash crops include wheat, cotton, sugar beet, tobacco, grapes, olives and hazelnuts.

The service industry is the largest industry, among which tourism, construction and banking are more developed.

The main sectors of the manufacturing sector include textiles, clothing, automobiles, steel, cement, agricultural products processing, refining, household appliances, leather and so on.

The textile and garment industry is the most important sector in the local economy. It occupies a very important position in the employment of the earth, industrial output and export. In 2006, the export amount was 15 billion 600 million US dollars.

The development of motor vehicle and auto parts production is developing rapidly. In 2006, 990 thousand cars were produced and the output ranked seventeenth in the world.

At present, on the European continent, bus production accounts for the first place in Turkey, and business vehicle production accounts for second, and car production accounts for seventh.

In 2006, total exports of motor vehicles and accessories amounted to US $14 billion 900 million.

Soil is also the fifteenth largest steel producer in the world and the largest cement producer in Europe.

The main mineral resources in Turkey include borax, marble, chromite, coal and so on. Borax reserves account for 63% of the world's total, and marble reserves account for 40% of the world's total, ranking the first in the world.

Turkey is economically active and the seventeenth largest economy in the world.

In 2006, the gross domestic product of the earth amounted to US $400 billion 46 million, an increase of 6.1% over the previous year, and the national economy ranked seventeenth in the world, with a per capita national income of US $5477.

Due to the formal negotiation of the accession to the European Union, the confidence of international investors in the land market has been increased. In 2006, the amount of attracting foreign investment has been outstanding, reaching 20 billion 200 million US dollars in the whole year, far exceeding the level of attracting foreign capital of US $1 billion 100 million per year in 1993~2002.

The total number of inbound tourists is 19 million 820 thousand, and tourism revenue is US $16 billion 851 million.

According to the 2007 annual results of the US engineering news record, 22 of the 225 largest international engineering contracting enterprises in the world are listed in Turkey, the number of which is second only to that of the United States and China.

In 2006, the total amount of project contracts contracted by Turkey construction contractors in the international market amounted to US $15 billion 991 million.

Influenced by factors such as rising international oil prices and active domestic investment, in 2006, consumer prices rose by 9.65% and production prices rose by 11.58%.

Although the employment situation has improved, the unemployment rate is still up to 10.5% at the end of 2006.

Turkey's foreign trade has continued to develop, but foreign trade deficit has been in the balance for a long time, and the balance of payments is deteriorating.

Because of the effective adjustment of the economic structure and efforts to expand exports, the Turkish government achieved a substantial increase in foreign trade in 2006 and effectively promoted the development of the national economy.

According to the statistics of the National Bureau of statistics, the total import and export volume was 222 billion 758 million US dollars, an increase of 17.09% over the previous year, a record high.

Of which, exports of US $85 billion 309 million and imports of US $137 billion 449 million increased by 16.10% and 17.71% respectively, with a trade deficit of US $52 billion 140 million and an expansion of 20.42%.

The main export commodities are automobiles and accessories, textiles and clothing, machinery and equipment, electronic products and household appliances, steel and products, nuts, etc. the main products are: petroleum, machinery and equipment, automobiles, steel, communication equipment, plastic products, etc.

In 2006, the top 10 trading partners were Germany, Russia, Italy, Britain, France, the United States, China, Spain, Iran and Romania.

The "China Threat Theory" has withdrawn from the stage of history. Since twenty-first Century, bilateral economic and trade relations between China and Turkey have developed rapidly.

According to statistics from the Chinese side, bilateral trade volume increased from US $910 million in 2001 to US $8 billion 69 million in 2006.

In 2007 1~7, the trade volume between the two countries reached 6 billion 460 million US dollars, an increase of 43% over the same period last year, of which China exported 5 billion 827 million US dollars to the soil and 632 million US dollars from the soil, which increased by 40.6% and 69.5% respectively.

According to the statistics of the earthwork, the bilateral trade volume reached 10 billion 281 million US dollars in 2006, and China has become the seventh largest trading partner and the third largest source of imports.

In recent years, there has also been significant progress in bilateral investment and engineering contracting cooperation. As of the end of March 2007, Chinese enterprises actually invested 11 million 770 thousand US dollars in land and invested 75 million 140 thousand US dollars in China.

The engineering contracting projects of Chinese enterprises in the soil mainly include railway pformation (1 billion 270 million US dollars), steel plant pformation, alkali mine construction, coal mine well drilling, power station and so on.

Local enterprises are also participating in the bidding of Beijing Olympic venues.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to economic and trade relations with Turkey.

In June of this year, Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce, led the Chinese government economic and trade delegation to visit Turkey, and co hosted the fifteenth meeting of the Joint Commission on economic and trade between China and the mainland with the Minister of state for foreign trade, Tuzmen. He conducted extensive and in-depth talks on expanding bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, contracting projects, tourism, aviation and other fields, and achieved positive results.

On August, Ma Xiuhong, Vice Minister of Commerce, led a delegation to Turkey and attended the opening ceremony of the seventy-sixth Izmir international exposition.

Thanks to the efforts of both sides, business cooperation between the two countries is becoming more and more close.

Three years ago, the "China Threat Theory" in the clamour of the earth has gradually withdrawn from the stage of history. Turkey's business circles are increasingly talking about "China's opportunity".

At the invitation of Bo Xilai, at the beginning of September 2007, Minister of state Tuzmen led a delegation to China and took part in the China Fair in Xiamen in September 8th.

The high-level visits between the Chinese and Turkish governments are raising a new climax.

Sino Turkish cooperation is greater than competition. Turkey is a member of the European customs union. Its radiation capacity is strong and its market potential is huge.

Chinese goods are popular in the territory, and the export of Chinese goods to the soil has increased by more than 60% over the past 5 years.

In the field of engineering contracting, there will be a large number of projects such as infrastructure, energy construction and factory pformation. The two countries can give full play to their respective advantages and carry out project contracting business in the territories or third countries through cooperation.

The market potential and superior geographical position of Turkey provide opportunities for Chinese enterprises to invest, at the same time, such as soil textiles and clothing, household appliances, food processing, leather, automobile accessories and other strong industries.

China is accelerating the pace of foreign investment and provides a choice for China to attract foreign investment.

Turkey is rich in tourism resources. Its territory is covered with ancient Greece and ancient Rome civilization. Besides the ancient capital Istanbul and picturesque Strait of Bosporus with thousands of years of history, there are also the former residence of the Virgin Mary Maria, one of the seven wonders of the world, namely, the temple of Al Termis, the underground city, the Pamukkale, the Ephesians monuments, the temple of the sun, etc. the hometown of Homa, the ancient Greek poet Homa, and the Troy Trojan ruins described in Homa's epic are all in Turkey today.

These scenic spots will enhance Chinese tourists' understanding of Turkey and expand the scope of their visits from Istanbul to the beautiful Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean coast.

The two countries have great potential for tourism cooperation.

After the ruling of the new government in August this year, it maintained the continuity of policies, which is conducive to the stable development of the local society and economy, and also conducive to the long-term development of friendly relations and economic and trade cooperation between China and the mainland.

China and the Turkish government and the business community have seen that cooperation between the two countries is greater than competition.

We believe that the two countries will work hand in hand to create a win-win situation.

Zang Yunyan, economic and commercial Consul General Consulate General in Istanbul