Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The “Destination Italy – Invest in Italy” meeting took place in İstanbul with the attendances of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, DEİK Turkish – Italian Business Council President Zeynep Bodur Okyay and Italy’s Ambassador to Ankara, Gianpaolo Scarante.

In his speech, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the two great economies of the Mediterranean, the two partners of the European – Atlantic system, G20’s two global players, Italy and Turkey are two powers which share history and values.

Reporting that the bilateral trade volume between Italy and Turkey has reached 20 billion USD in 2013, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that in recent years, the interest of Italian investors in Turkey has increased greatly and that nearly 2,000 Italian companies have invested almost 5 billion USD in Turkey.

“On the other hand, 44 Turkish companies have invested a total of 141 million USD in Italy,” said TOBB and DEİK President Hisarcıklıoğlu and went on to state that 700,000 Italian’s visit Turkey each year.

- Our investment stock in foreign markets has increased to 30 billion USD

Stating that Turkey has become a country which draws in investments as well as investing in other countries, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “On the one hand we strive to draw in investments, on the other we are encouraging investing in other countries in order to strengthen our competitive power in the global market. The investment stock of our companies has reached 30 billion USD in foreign markets.

Turkish companies have also begun to acquire brands in international markets. Among Turkish companies’ mergers and buyouts in the international market are Godiva of Belgium, Razi of Iran, Trade Media East of Russia and Grundig of Germany. Italy’s Fincuoghi was bought by Ms. Okyay’s company. The International Investments Business Council established under DEİK is guiding Turkish companies in their international investment.

The council has brought together the 30 largest Turkish companies trading internationally. This council, along with the Ministry of Economy has begun its work to formulate Turkey’s 2023 global investment strategy and to put it into effect. Our goal is to invest 100 billion USD internationally in 2023. With this strategy, we plan to direct our investor to appropriate countries and sectors in order to enable our brands and companies to become global players.”

- Italy is a target country

Stating that they believe Italy will be one of the driving forces behind Europe in the future, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they view Italy as a prime target country for investments, “The rising interest of our companies in Italy in recent years is the best example of this. I would like to first congratulate the Italian Investment Agency and the Italian government. Despite the heavy crisis they experienced, they are still in the race for attracting entrepreneurs.Just this gives us hope for Italy’s future. There is a serious hunt for investors in the global economy. Even the USA is in the race, this shows how important it is to find the right investors.

Going on to speak in regards to the problems encountered in business, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The visa issue is known to us all. You want to draw in investment but demand visas from the businessmen who would bring in investments. It’s not just this either. The importance of transportation for bilateral trade and investment is undeniable.

The matter of bilateral transport quota as well as the limits to the number of goods we are allowed to transport to countries like Switzerland, France, Spain and Portugal via Italy.

These practices, which do not correspond with the GATT agreement of the World Trade Organization, are seriously damaging to our trade relations. We request that the Italian government strive to solve these issues.”

- Other speakers

DEİK Turkish – Italian Business Council President Zeynep Bodur Okyay and Italy’s Ambassador to Ankara, Gianpaolo Scarante also spoke during the meeting, drawing attention the importance of investments, entrepreneurs and SMEs as well as the potential of bilateral trade between the two economies.