Turkish-Greek business forum kicks off

Eryigit Umur of Turkish conglomerate Dogus Group: "Greece has large business potential" A business event aiming to boost trade volume between Turkey and Greece is underway in Istanbul with the participation of Turkish and Greek prime ministers who held a bilateral meeting earlier in the day. Turkish-Greek Business Forum, co-hosted by Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and Turkish Exporters' Assembly, began on Monday at Istanbul's Ciragan Palace. "We made investments in excess of 100 million dollars in Turkey, and got good returns," said Constantinos Antonopoulos, Chief Executive of Intralot, a 1 billion dollar Greek gaming company, addressing a gathering of businesspeople from both countries. "We want to reach via Turkey the countries which offer huge business opportunities," Antonopoulos said. Southern Europe General Manager of S&B Industrial Materials, Athanasios Kefalas, said, "Turkey brings us competitive advantage to expand geographically and further develop the value chain." "Greece has large business potential both for the region and Turkish companies," said Eryigit Umur, Head of Investment Agency in Dogus Group, one of Turkey's largest conglomerates, which seeks tourism investment opportunities in Greece. "Business environment, bureaucratic operations, licensing efforts have all turned out quite positive last year [in Greece]," he said. "We are making new investments and will continue to do so," Top Executive of Cukurova Paper and Packaging Company, Engin Denizmen, said. "We are very hopeful about the future."