Turkey calls for investment from Gulf countries

Turkey on Thursday appealed the Gulf business giants to invest in Turkey as the political stability has been sustained with the local election held at the end of March. "This is the perfect time to invest in Turkey," said Turkey's Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek in the two-day International Investment Summit here in Istanbul. "The local election which has been considered as a referendum revealed the fact that the political stability is not under stake, " he remarked. The gains of the last decade have entirely driven from the political stability, Simsek said. Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been elected as the first party having around 40 percent of the votes. Some 70 investors, more than 40 Gulf companies and 100 Turkish companies attended meeting, which was organized by Istanbul Investment Association and Middle East Economy Platform. Turkey aims to attract funds from the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to the country's energy, real estate and construction sector. The head of International Investment Summit Hasim Sungu said that the total business volume of the Gulf countries' funds stood at 500 billions U.S. dollars. Saudi giant Abdurrahman Al Ajlan, who has 6 billion dollars investment in real estates sector, was among the participants. Abdurrah Al-Zamil from Saudi Arabia was another important name, possessing 10 billion dollars trade volume in the fields of energy, real estate and iron and steel. Al-Zamil, speaking about the economic welfare of the Gulf region, noted that Turkey should continue to work hard to have the Gulf market as a partner. He added that the Gulf countries have long been attracted by the good opportunities of Turkey. "During the summit we expect a boost in bilateral relations and have concrete results in signing contracts," he said. Speaking about the challenges in front of Turkey's economic growth, minister Simsek stated that the country has long been battling with the current account deficit and inflation rate. "We have reduced the inflation to the single digit. Single digit is not a barrier to do business in Turkey. You can still do your business in a fashionable environment," Simsek said. Turkey's recovery from global crisis is quite strong, according to Simsek. Turkish GDP is 20 percent higher than what it was pre- crisis level.