Ambassador to Turkey says American pharmaceutical companies may stop selling to Turkey

David Satterfield, the US Ambassador to Turkey said that if Turkey did not pay its debt to US pharmaceutical companies, the companies might stop selling drugs to Turkey.

Speaking at the 38th American-Turkish conference organized by the Turkish-US Business Council (TAIK) and the US Chamber of Commerce, US Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield said that the debt of public hospitals in Turkey to foreign pharmaceutical companies had increased from $ 230 million to $ 2.3 billion in a year, adding that companies might not want to continue like this, which would not be in Turkey’s interest.

Satterfield said that Turkey had promised to solve this problem in the meeting held between U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Erdogan (and Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak) a year ago whereas Turkey was now trying to convince pharmaceutical companies to give up some of their receivables.

A year later, U.S. companies were asked for debt relief, Satterfield said, noting that there would be consequences if debts were not paid or payments were made incomplete.