‘Friendly competition’
The friendly competition between two leading members of the EU, Spain and Italy, continues in investment ventures in Turkey, too. Businessmen from both countries are in Turkey to exploit investment opportunities.
“Since Mr. Turgut Ozal’s presidency days, Spain has given its support to integrate Turkey to Europe.
In the 1980s, Turkey’s imports from Spain were around 40 million dollars and exports to Spain around 70 million dollars. Now we have a three billion dollars worth of trade volume.”
Those words simply show how much emphasis Dr. Zeynel Abidin Erdem, the Chairman of Turkish- Spanish Business Committee, who was honored with one of the most important titles of respect in Spain, the Spanish Royal Medal of Honor, puts on the importance of the Turkish – Spanish Cooperation Forum which will commence today in Istanbul The meeting that Erdem talks about will focus on the cooperation between selected 40 Spanish firms and 150 Turkish firms, the latter having been matched with the former.
Indeed, Turkey not only has visitors from Spain but also has visitors from Italy with which Spain is in friendly competition in the EU. Almost 620 Italian businessmen in Ankara and representatives of 40 big Spanish companies in Istanbul will investigate the opportunities of cooperation and investment.
Competition between the Spanish and the Italian for the Turkish delight
Although it might seem as coincidence that both meetings start on the same day, the truth is a little different. The two countries which have been in an “amicable competition” among EU countries in the recent years now compete for Turkey. Among the EU countries, Italy is the fourth and Spain is the fifth in the economic volume scale. Why did the two Mediterranean countries fire up about Turkey? The most important factor in this development is the growing stability in Turkish economy in the past three years. When this combines with the important steps taken in the process towards full membership in EU, Turkey has become attractive for these two countries where labor costs are rapidly increasing and which have started to move their investments abroad in many sectors.
According to 2004 data, Spain comes ninth in Turkey’s import volume, with its share of 3.3 percent and sixth in Turkey’s export volume with its 4.2 percentage. Italy, on the other hand, holds the second or the third place among countries which Turkey imports most from. In export, Italy goes back and forth between being the third and the fourth. Italy holds 7 percent of Turkey’s foreign trade volume. The number of Spanish firms with investments in Turkey in 1990 was 8, whereas in 2003, this figure reached 57. Likewise, in 1990 the number of Italian firms was 57 and now it is 249. Through investments, Spain aims at supporting Turkey on its path to become a full member of the EU. For this purpose, the Spanish businessmen delegation will discuss concrete investment projects with 150 Turkish businessmen for two days at the lobbies of The Marmara Hotel.
Environment and transportation are of priority
The main sectors to be discussed in the second “Turkish- Spanish Cooperation Forum” organized by the Spanish Attaché of Istanbul for Economy and Trade on behalf of Spanish Supreme Council of Trade and Industry Chambers will include engineering and consultancy services towards transportation, environmental, city planning, construction, telecommunication, space engineering sectors, food and agricultural food industry, and household textile. Among the cooperation issues of the Spanish firms, joint- venture, transfer of technology, capital contribution, and participation in the privatization projects, temporary partnership agreements, and technical assistance agreements are included.
Commercial Attaché of the Spanish Embassy, Ergun Amasyalı, states that Spain is one of the leading countries in the world regarding the directs investments performed abroad or accepted domestically, and that in 2004, Spain’s investments abroad reached a volume of 35.4 billion Euros and in-country foreign investments reached 11.1 billion Euros. Amasyalı points out that the comprehensive economic reforms in the past 4 years and positive developments in the process of admission to the European Union have established sound business and investment opportunities in Turkey, and that such conditions have created the grounds for Spanish firms to wish to develop their investment activities in Turkey. Amasyalı explains that the Spanish firms which will participate in the meeting in Istanbul are members of the agency equivalent to the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and that firms have been selected carefully, that contact points have been predetermined for the firms. Amasyalı says, “Right firms have been matched. We have put in a lot of effort for the meetings to be productive for both groups. The matters to be discussed include Turkey’s priority needs in the near future, such as environmental consultancy, and certification. We believe that the meeting will be very interesting for Turkish firms, too”
A big supporter of Turkey
The Chairman of the Turkish Spanish Business Committee of the Council of Foreign Economical Relations, Zeynel Abidin Erdem, states that Spain is a very important country for Turkey. He also explains that it was Spain even before Germany that has always supported Turkey. Erdem says that Spain has always been genuine in its support and reminds that Spain provides long term loans with low interest rates for investments. Pointing out the fact that Spain is a successful country in many areas from the production of industrial goods to organic food, from air pollution management investments to transportation, Erdem expresses the following: “Spain has granted a loan for a total of 40 million dollars on low interest to be repaid in 37 years with 17 years thereof being grace period for the maintenance and renovation of Istanbul- Ankara railway line. It is ready to grant a loan for the steel required for the bridge which is planned to build over the Dardanelles. The amount of this loan is about 500- 600 million dollars. The Spanish firms are the biggest firms in the world regarding the production of equipment, transportation aircrafts and helicopters required for the Dardanelles bridge, railways, high-speed trains, sea, land and air transportation. The Spanish government and firms are open to all kinds of cooperation. They invite us to do business together in the Latin America.”
The Chairman of the Turkish Spanish Business Committee, Zeynel Abidin Erdem, also states that it was Spain even before Germany that has always supported Turkey.