NEWS SCAN for Turkey – May 22nd, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites.
Deputy PM says Turkey willing to improve relations with Asia
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister for economy Ali Babacan who delivered a speech at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) in Tajikistan on Tuesday said that developing Asian economies had been an impetus for the global economy with a 6.6 growth in 2012.
Babacan also added that Tajikistan had had an impressive growth with 7.5 percent and the inflation remained at a single-digit level in 2012.
The deputy PM went on to say all Asian countries had common problems in raising living standards of growing population as well as producing goods and services and added that these countries should put more effort to improve trade with other member countries of IDB and increase foreign investment for sustainable growth.
Secretary General of Arab League warns Geneva meeting ‘last chance to end Syria blood bath
It is reported that the second round of peace talks in Geneva is scheduled for June.
El-Araby who had a meeting with United Nations and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said that Brahimi’s efforts would help the US and Russia approach each other.
In a press conference with journalists, el-Araby said “Everyone tries to make sure that the secondGeneva conference succeeds. It is the last chance to end the Syria blood bath”.
Turkey’s Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı announces customs gate closed for a month
The Customs and Trade Ministry of Turkey made a written statement on 21st May saying Turkey had closed the Yayladağı Customs gate in the southern Hatay province for a month. This measure was taken due to REYHANLI explosions a short while ago.
The Minister said “We’re closely observing and controlling the border gates between Syria and Turkey. We’ve closed Yayladağı border gate after the sad event in Reyhanlı [the bombings May 11 that caused death of more than 50 people] to prevent suspects’ flee. We’ve emphasized the situation since then and decided that security risks are quite high. It’s the only gate where people from Syria enter and get out of Turkey.”
Korea Exchange Bank opens representative office in Turkey
The first South Korean investment into Turkey following the activation of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries at the beginning of May has been materialized as a representative office of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) in Istanbul.
KEB’s Istanbul office will serve South Korean companies considering doing business in Turkey. The bank will look into offering banking services in Turkey at the earliest date possible, according to its CEO Yun Yong-ro. Speaking to the press at the opening ceremony, Yong-ro said that the bank would work towards bolstering the economic cooperation between Turkey and South Korea, and praised Istanbul’s progress in becoming an international finance center. “Our operations in Eastern Europe and the Middle East will be run from Istanbul..”, he said.
Turkey’s financial capital is rapidly becoming an international finance hub with its surging trade, attractive stock market and an increasing concentration of domestic and international financial institutions. (invest.gov.tr)
FDI inflow into Turkey may exceed projections
The recent upgrade of Turkey’s credit rating to ‘investment grade’ is an important step towards increasing the country’s share in global foreign direct investment (FDI) traffic, according to a statement issued by the International Investors Association of Turkey (YASED).
“The upgrade of Turkey’s government bond ratings to Baa3 from Ba1 by Moody’s Investors Service is undoubtedly a very crucial step in increasing Turkey’s share of the global FDI inflow from 1 percent to 3 percent and enter the top 10 FDI recipients in the long term.”, YASED statement read. Turkey now meets the requirements set by international investment funds as to have at least two ‘investment grade’ ratings from the three main credit rating agencies. Turkey recently received a rating upgrade from Moody’s after Fitch elevated the country to ‘investment grade’ late last year, leaving only Standard & Poor’s to keep the country one-notch below the coveted status.
According to YASED forecast Turkey is expected to receive USD 15-20 billion of FDI in 2013, a figure that may well be exceeded on the back of the recent rating boost. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will also be positively affected by the Moody’s decision with the target volume of USD 25 billion in transactions very likely to be revised upwards by as much as USD 5 billion, according to auditing and consultancy firm Ernst & Young (E&Y).
22.05.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
