Category: Business

Punjab signs two accords with Turkish firms

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that Pakistani and Turk investors should benefit from the best opportunities of investment available in the province.

He was speaking on the occasion of signing of two agreements between Turk companies Al-Bayrak, Ozkartallar Compak and Lahore Transport Company here on Tuesday. Ahmet Al-Bayrak of Al-Bayrak Company and Muhibi Kartel and Abdul Qadir Turan of Ozkartallar Compak and Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan Chairman Lahore Transport Company singed the agreements. Mayor Istanbul Dr Kadir Topbas was also present.

Shahbaz congratulated the Istanbul mayor and his delegation as well as Pakistani and Turk business community. He expressed confidence in the Turk companies and said that they were associated with more than 100 institutions of Turkey and it was hoped that Pakistani business community would benefit from the opportunities of mutual cooperation and joint ventures and play their role for making the Punjab a role model for other provinces. Mayor Instanbul Dr. Kadir Topbas also spoke.

Talking to a Turk delegation, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said implementation of joint ventures between the Punjab and Istanbul would promote trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey. He said that the recent visit of Mayor Istanbul Kadir Topbas to Lahore would open up new avenues of bilateral cooperation and relationship between the two countries.

He said the Daanish Technical University would be established in the provincial metropolis with the cooperation of Turkey. He said that cooperation of Turkey would also be acquired for the construction of parking plazas and training programmes of the Punjab Police.

Those who met the chief minister included Osman Askin, Chairman Albayrak Company Ahmet Albayrak, Haybaraccli, Qadir Noran and others. The Turkish print and electronic media has given extensive coverage to the visit of Mayor Istanbul to Lahore and shown keen interest in the engagements of the Turk delegation during the last two days.

The Turk media described the Punjab CM as a dynamic personality with reference to the important agreements signed with Turkey for various projects and observed that he was actively engaged in the development of the province and socio-economic uplift of the masses. The representatives of the Turk media before their departure for Turkey described the rousing welcome extended to them as memorable and said that it showed the wide popularity of Punjab CM and his team among the people. The Turk media paid growing tributes to the hospitality of Lahorites also.

via Punjab signs two accords with Turkish firms – The News.

March 14, 2012
Turkey: Tougher Visa Regulations Mean Fewer Jobs for Labor Migrants

For decades, Turkey was known for being a source of guest workers, especially those headed to Germany. Now, Ankara is grappling with a migrant-labor issue of its own.

Ankara’s relatively relaxed attitude toward visas and illegal labor had long made Turkey a popular destination for people seeking work from formerly Soviet states. Last month, though, Turkey tightened visa regulations in an apparent effort to bring its practices into line with European Union standards. As a result, many migrant workers find themselves in career limbo.

In a tale that represents the typical plight of an illegal worker, 57-year-old Moldovan villager Eleni is living in Turkey on a three-month-tourist visa; the stamp has been her ticket to employment as a live-in house cleaner for the past 12 years.

The biggest change for Eleni and tens of thousands like her is that they can no longer automatically renew their visas by leaving the country for a day, or paying a fine for overstaying. Since the new regulations went into effect, migrant workers have to wait at least 90 days before re-entering the country on a new visa. Authorities have warned that the new requirement will be stringently enforced.

“We are all afraid about what will happen. When my visa ends, I will have to leave,” said Eleni who supports her husband, five children and grandchildren on her monthly salary. “My whole family is depending on me.”

Although Moldova’s official rate of unemployment is lower than Turkey’s (7.6 percent versus 9 percent), over a quarter of its population of roughly 3.7 million people are estimated to be battling poverty.

Like other Moldovans in Turkey, Eleni sends home not only money, but food and living essentials. An elaborate mini-bus system that operates each weekend out of a parking lot in downtown Istanbul delivers the items.

“They are sending everything from food to clothes, and even washing powder and baby diapers,” recounted 30-year-old Maria, who came to Istanbul from Moldova two years ago, and is in charge of coordinating the transport of money and goods from the parking lot. “Many people depend on what is sent from here.”

A large percentage of illegal workers are women, who work as live-in cleaners, nannies or domestic aides for the sick and infirm. Under the new system, employers are now expected to pay social security for them – a requirement that could discourage many from opting for their services.

Marko, one of the mini-bus drivers to Moldova, says the new visa regulations are already having an effect. “People who leave when their visas end are going back [to Moldova]. Because of the three-month ban to re-enter [Turkey], they lose their jobs. No one will wait for an employee to come back,” he said.

There are few official figures on the number of illegal workers in Turkey. In 2009, the Turkish daily Zaman quoted an unpublished report by the Ministry of Labor that put the number at over 1 million.

Many illegal workers have some kind of connection with Turkey. The Gagauz minority in Moldova, for example, have a cultural bond with Turks. Meanwhile, Armenians share a complicated history with Turks, and they can draw on the assistance of Istanbul’s substantial Armenian-Turkish community. The Turkish Employment Agency in 2009 claimed that as many as 70,000 Armenians worked illegally in Turkey. Many illegal workers are also believed to come from the Turkic states of Central Asia and Azerbaijan.

A desire to prevent such illegal workers from encroaching on Turkey’s job market might explain the visa crackdown, commented Soli Özel, a professor of international affairs at Istanbul’s Bilgi University and a columnist for the newspaper HaberTurk. “The numbers of illegal workers may be growing because of our booming economy and that may be becoming a factor on unemployment numbers.”

The new regulations were implemented without warning and with little explanation, other than the aim of bringing Turkey into line with European Union standards. But it would seem Ankara is intent of getting more Turks back in the workforce.

Turkey has escaped relatively unscathed from the worldwide economic crisis, making “everything . . . fantastic in the Turkish economy . . . relative to most of the G20 [states],” said Emre Yigit, an economist at the international trading house Global Securities. “We are outgrowing our European trade partners by a factor between five and 10 times this year,” added Yigit. “However, we do have our own unemployment problem.”

Official unemployment rates have fallen from 15 percent in 2009 to a current 9 percent, but many believe the actual figure is higher. Meanwhile, thanks to the country’s comparatively young population (the median age in Turkey is 28), 5 million new workers are entering the labor force each year.

With Turkey scrambling to find jobs for them all, visa regulations are unlikely to be relaxed. In an interview with the semi-official Anatolia News Agency last month, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin promised further reforms. “The ministry has prepared a bill on international protection of foreigners, and it will be presented to Parliament soon,” Sahin said. He did not elaborate.

For many migrant workers like Eleni, the thought of regulations tightening further is not reassuring. Citing the lack of firewood in her home village amid record cold temperatures during the winter, she worries about the future. “So many people depend on me . . . What will happen to us if I lose my job here? I just don’t know.”

Editor’s note:

Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul. This story is part one of a two-part series.

via Turkey: Tougher Visa Regulations Mean Fewer Jobs for Labor Migrants | EurasiaNet.org.

March 11, 2012
Turkish advertising: boom or bubble?

by Daniel Dombey

If you want to see what a booming economy is like, look up at an Istanbul billboard. Like Turkey as a whole, the city is brimful with publicity – for luxury housing developments, flights across the world and the latest Apple products.

But in an uncertain 2012, there are signs that the advertising bonanza – which is still modest by standards elsewhere – may not expand so quickly in future.

According to the Turkish Association of Advertising Agencies, the country’s media advertising market is set to grow 15 per cent this year over last year’s total of TL4.3bn ($2.4bn). That’s after growth rates of 20 and 31 per cent for 2011 and 2010 respectively.

Over 55 per cent of all advertising in Turkey is on television with the press representing 24.5 per cent, the internet 8 per cent and the omnipresent billboards 7 per cent.

The Association of Advertising Agencies describes its prediction for this year as “optimistic” and – showing it is unafraid to state the obvious – points out that overall growth and Turkey’s high level of economic activity are the real drivers of the country’s advertising. Of course, the consumer boom that has helped stoke growth of more than 8 per cent in recent years has everything to do with Turkey’s aspirational adverts.

Things are finely balanced however. The Turkish central bank said on Wednesday that it expected that the economy would easily meet the government’s 4 per cent growth target for this year, despite a marked slowdown in economic activity at the start of the year which may see growth flat for the first quarter.

The big risk is in the oil price, which is particularly skittish because of the tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and to which Turkey, as a large scale energy importer, is particularly vulnerable. A big jump could stoke inflation that is already above 10 per cent a year, leading to higher interest rates, with all that means for economic activity – and indeed Turkey’s spate of ever slicker ads.

via Turkish advertising: boom or bubble? | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com.

March 8, 2012
Best Airline Food Winner: Turkish Airlines – USATODAY.com

Best Airline Food Winner: Turkish Airlines

christinegarvin

While many airlines continue to downgrade food options…and, well, flavor, Turkish Airlines has decided to move in the other direction.

Meals on a Turkish Airlines flight can include such delectable items as stuffed eggplant and walnut pear tart. Plus, they offer tasty Kosher, vegetarian, and seafood options.

Maybe that’s why they just won Skyscanner’s latest poll about best in-flight food. They took home an 86% satisfaction rating, beating out Singapore Airlines at 81% and Etihad at 80% to take the top spot. Singapore Airlines has chef Gordon Ramsey to thank for the high finish, since he is a part of their food development panel.

Image: Turkish Airlines

Where did the top UK airline place? British Airlines came in at 14th, with a 60% satisfaction rating. How about a US airline? Not surprisingly, the only one to make the list was American Airlines in 19th place with 47.5%.

That’s probably why most Americans think plane food is always bad.

Why the difference in airline food throughout the world? Well, the big reason is level of investment – while outfits like Turkish Airlines and Singapore are purposefully putting money into food (including bringing in big name chefs) in order to create more passenger loyalty, airlines in the US are cutting out all “non-necessities”, which apparently includes decent food.

But that may be changing. As we reported a few months ago, American Airlines hired chefs Richard Sandoval and Marcus Samuelsson to improve food offerings on both international and domestic flights.

Still, it’ll cost you. The days of free food – besides packaged peanuts – on flights are nearing their end. But if they somehow make it affordable to purchase decent food on a plane, we’re game.

via Best Airline Food Winner: Turkish Airlines – USATODAY.com.

March 8, 2012
Turkey Unveils ‘Safe Harbor’ Lira Symbol

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan (left) and Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci (right) poses with the new symbol of Turkish Lira in Ankara

ISTANBUL — For decades, “safe harbor” wasn’t a term readily associated with the Turkish lira.

In the latter part of the twentieth century, the currency was infamous instead as a haven for volatility and hyper-inflation. Shunned by investors and exchanged hastily by Turkish consumers, the lira’s lowest-denomination note was 100,000.

Following a 2001 banking crisis, a painful structural reform program helped pull the lira back to earth, prompting a shift in market perceptions. Turkey’s government in 2005 took the risky step of stripping six zeros from the currency, but the economy continued to expand and later emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis.

“Brand Lira” began to be seen an economic asset, rather than a liability.

In a bid to capitalize on the lira’s growing prominence in international markets, Turkey on Thursday introduced a new symbol for the national currency.

The symbol–a double-crossed, T-shaped anchor–is intended to mean “safe harbor” says Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The upward-facing crosses symbolize Turkey’s growing economic clout, he added.

The launch also reflects Turkey’s ambitious aspirations to become one of the world’s top economies. Turkey’s government has targeted becoming one of the world’s top 10 economies from its current ranking of 16th by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. The central bank has vowed to promote the lira as a reserve currency, recently signing local currency swap deals with Pakistan and China.

Not everyone welcomed the new symbol. The main opposition Republican People’s Party said the icon had been made in the initials of the prime minister, raising questions over the bank’s independence from government.

“The final point of the Central Bank’s independence has been to make Tayyip Erdogan’s initials the symbol of our currency,” said the party’s economics and fiscal policy deputy chairman, Faik Oztrak, in a statement.

Speculation over the bank’s independence has risen since April, when Erdem Basci, a childhood friend of Turkish economic czar and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, was named bank governor.

Speak to Turkish traders and they’ll confirm that the Turkish lira has made a quantum leap in terms of market credibility.

“In a way the symbol symbolizes a turning point for the Turkish lira… Policy was reformed and made the Turkish lira a much more credible currency. That’s because Turkey is a more credible economy… short-term risks remain but longer-term Turkish lira stability is here to stay,” says Guldem Atabay, chief Turkey economist at UniCredit.

Gone, it seems, are the bad old days of the 1990s when Turks would immediately exchange their liras for dollars or Duetsche Marks before triple-digit inflation rendered them worthless.

Still, risks do remain.

Despite a growth rate in 2011 that economists expect to top 8%, the lira fell more against the dollar than any other currency last year, dropping 18% as investors balked at Turkey’s gaping current-account deficit and unorthodox monetary policy. Turkey’s structural imbalances haven’t gone away, with fast-rising oil prices posing a new danger for an economy heavily dependent on energy imports.

But so far this year Turkish assets have been among the big winners, pushing the lira as much as 8% higher against the dollar–one of the fastest rises of any emerging-market currency.

Prime Minister Erdogan on Thursday hailed the new lira symbol as representative of Turkey’s swelling economic prestige.

“People used to mock us when we had many zeros in our currency, and it made trading transactions very difficult. Now our citizen is proud of our currency, his passport and flag. Now is the time that our currency will become more known across the world.”

via Turkey Unveils ‘Safe Harbor’ Lira Symbol – Emerging Europe Real Time – WSJ.

March 2, 2012
Turkey: the key to Europe’s future :

The EU is Turkey’s number one trade partner, with Turkish exports and imports between 46 to 39 percent. Foreign direct investment inflows to Turkey amounted to €10 Billion in 2008, while Turkish direct investments in more than 50 countries amounted to €1.7 billion, said Turkish Chief Negotiator and Minister for European Union Affairs, Egeman Bagis, in Munich last month.

Turkey is the key to Europe’s future. Turkey has a unique strategic position in its region for geographical, cultural, and historical reasons. It is the most Eastern part of the West and the most Western part of the East.

Minister Bagis also sees Turkey as an active player and mediator in critical areas such as the Middle East, South Caucasus, Central Asia, the Black Sea basin, the Mediteranean, and the Balkans. When asked by Alison Smale, Executive Editor of the International Herald Tribune, he said, “Turkey is the only country to apply for a Schengen visa. That Turkey will join the EU is a 60 percent issue.”

With Europe on one side and Asia on the other side, Turkish investors are looking more into the Central Asia region and its 1.4 billion consumers, than to Europe.

Established and very well connected, Turkish hotel investors, construction companies, and developers have been heading to Central Asia for years, building partnerships with neighbor countries in the south – Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran – at the bottom line.

The country – straddling the continents of Europe and Asia – is a promising market, with Istanbul as one of the world’s hottest destinations and one the hippest cities. Istanbul’s sights and sounds are beyond compare, believes Romain Avril, Vice President of Business Development for Rezidor. He sees a big potential in mid-market hotels. Why is that? Lack of competition, low cost of operation, quick turnaround, and simpler development and construction procedures makes Istanbul, Turkey very attractive segments to move business to.

Until now, Radisson Blue has four properties in operation (Istanbul Bospherus, Istanbul Airport, Ankara, and Cesme), and four new hotels are under development in Istanbul Asia, Istanbul Sisli, and Istanbul Golden Horn, with more to come. Envisioning 5-6 Park Inns by Radisson hotels (maybe as part of a joint venture) in Istanbul city, with another 10-20 hotels in the pipeline in other cities, such as Izmir, Mersin, Bursa, etc., makes Radisson more or less a local player with strong Turkish partners.

“The outlook of the Turkish tourism industry is more buoyant than ever, with an increasing number of international and local hotel companies investing in the sector,” said Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events, co-organizer of the Central Asia and Turkey Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC), to be held in Istanbul from February 6-8, 2012.

It is the ideal time to invest in Turkey’s hospitality sector with international tourist arrivals expected to reach 33 million by 2012. Indeed, more than 1.4 million Arab visitors are recorded so far this year.

The conference program includes speakers with knowledge and expertise in regional and international hotel development, finance, hotel branding and operations, plus sessions giving perspectives from industry analysts.

Among key speakers of CATHIC 2012 is Cevdet Akcay, Chief Economist;Yapi Kredi Bank; Denis Hennequin, President & CEO, ACCOR SA; Eric Danziger, President & Chief Executive Officer, Wyndham Hotel Group; Kurt Ritter, President & CEO, The Rezidor Hotel Group; Atilla Ozturk, CEO & Board Member, ASTAY; Serdar Bilgili, Chairman, Bilgili Holding; and Roland Vos, President, EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, just to name a few.

Meanwhile, Mehmet Önkal, Managing Partner, BDO Hospitality Consulting in Turkey, warned that investment in the sector is crucial. “One of the key drivers of sustainable development is the consistent flow of investment, and Turkey is lucky, as it does not face the same challenges with financing as other markets.” he said.

And last but not least, Turkey’s tourism industry has also benefitted from ongoing unrest in Egypt and the North Africa region. Among Turkey’s visitors were a number of newcomers – Arab tourists, for instance, who used to travel to Syria and nearby, are discovering Istanbul – strongly attracted by the wide array of mosques and similar hospitality.

With more and more arrivals coming from the UK, the ABTA Travel Convention is returning to Turkey this year in October. The last time Turkey hosted the ABTA Travel Convention was in 1996 in Istanbul. At that time, the country had just over 750,000 arrivals from the UK, which today is closer to 3million.

Turkey has also launched Istanbul’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. In support of that, Istanbul is hoping to strengthen the bid as the 2012 European Capital of Sports. Events highlighted will include the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics (March 9-12, 2012), which is likely to be the final opportunity to see athletes competing on an international level prior to the London Summer Olympics 2012.

Sources: ETurboNews

Researcher: Ingrid Lo

via Turkey: the key to Europe’s future :.

March 1, 2012