Tag: Silk Road

  • ‘Turkey to be most strategic country in Asia-Europe Corridor’

    ‘Turkey to be most strategic country in Asia-Europe Corridor’

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said when the Marmaray Project is completed, the Silk Road from Beijing to London will be revived.

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    Underground railroad tracks have been started to build in the Marmaray Project.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said when the Project is completed, the Silk Road from Beijing to London will be revived.

    Erdogan did the first rail welding in the Ayrılıkcheshme-Kazlıcheshme Part of the Project in Istanbul.

    Meanwhile, Premier Erdogan assessed the operations against the top level executives of the terror organization at the ceremony of the Marmaray Project.

    An important phase has been reached at The Marmaray Project which is expected to create a huge release to the solution of the traffic problem in Istanbul.

    The rail tracks between the 14 kilometers-long line of Istanbul’s Uskudar and Kazlıcheshme have been started to be built.

    Prime Minister Erdogan did the first rail welding in the 14 km-long part of the Project.

    Erdogan said, “The Marmaray Project will not only bridge the European and Asian side of Istanbul with a rail system but also will provide an uninterrupted railway between Beijing and London, a revival of a modern-time Silk Road. When the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway and high-speed train Project are completed, Turkey will be the most strategic country in the transportation area of the Asia-Europe Corridor.

    Erdogan also made a brief assessment of the current domestic agenda at the ceremony in Istanbul. Regarding to recent operations against the terror organization, The Prime Minister said those involved in terror will never be tolerated.

    “I am addressing all my citizens no matter what thier ethnic backgrounds are. Unlike the past, we, as the country, will never tolerate those aiding and abetting the terror, and whoever breaks the law, we as the government will be taking the necessary steps so the security forces in line and within the framework of the decisions made by the legal authorities. They will not be ignored like they were in the past.”

    TRT

  • Malaysia and Turkey exploring opportunities in ‘New Silk Route’

    Malaysia and Turkey exploring opportunities in ‘New Silk Route’

    By MUSHTAK PARKER | ARAB NEWS

    Published: Nov 7, 2011 00:25 Updated: Nov 7, 2011 00:25

    In the corridors of power in Ankara, a new thinking is emerging especially among the “Young Turks” of the Turkish establishment.

    eco malaysia and turkey

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for the first working session at the G20 summit in Cannes, France. (AP)

    A combination of the aftermath of the global financial crisis; the seemingly intractable euro zone debt crisis with neighboring rival, Greece, bearing the brunt of the criticism; and endless obfuscation and simmering opposition by some diehard opponents to Turkish membership of the European Union; and the uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region because of the so-called “Arab Spring,” is forcing Ankara to look beyond its traditional trading partners and markets in the EU and the Middle East and to consider alternative ways of raising funds and investments into the country.

    Turkish companies are now exploring opportunities and are already active in sub-Saharan Africa; South and East Asia and even further afield in Latin America.

    The process is not one-sided. In fact, Turkey and Malaysia, for instance, are forging greater cooperation in trade, investment and especially linkages in the Islamic financial industry between the two markets.

    How times are changing. The new “Sick Men of Europe” are Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and possibly Spain — a big enough quorum to form their own unique club.

    Turkey on the other hand, with its projected six percent plus GDP growth rate for 2011, is walking tall — politically confident with the ruling Erdogan government recently returned with a landslide in its third successive democratic elections; economically far more stable sustained especially by export diversification and robust domestic demand; and the banking system weathering the global financial crisis far better because it learnt the lessons from its own financial crisis in 2001.

    The relatively modest volume of trade and investment between the Turkey and Malaysia currently reflects the enormous opportunity for further growth.

    During the recent visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to Turkey, he and his Turkish counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed a new target for bilateral trade between the two countries from the current $1.3 billion to $5 billion.

    Turkish investors and financial institutions could use Malaysia as a gateway to the ASEAN region, while the Malaysian financial community could use Turkey as a gateway to Central Asia and Europe.

    The two governments are also working on signing a double tax treaty and a bilateral trade agreement.

    Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world; it has a population of 70 million of which the average age is 29, which is the youngest in Europe; it is the 16th largest steel producer in the world; and the country averaged a GDP growth rate of 10.3 percent for the first half of 2011.

    While Turkey traditionally has had strong business relations with fellow Middle Eastern countries, its relations with fellow Muslim countries outside the MENA region, has been woefully neglected partly because of the then certainty of the economic relations with the EU and GCC markets and partly because of the inherent conservatism of the Turkish establishment whose focus was membership of the European club and rapprochement with the Middle East for political and economic expediency respectively.

    With the emergence of Malaysia as the powerhouse of the global Islamic finance industry, which in the Southeast Asian country has a unique connectivity with real economic activities including infrastructure financing, project finance, trade finance, SME financing, consumer finance and even wealth management and creation, it is not surprising that Ankara is seeking synergies with Kuala Lumpur in this nascent but fast growing industry.

    Both Malaysia and Turkey are secular states, albeit the former has less sensitivities about Shariah (Islamic legal) applications in finance and in limited personal law.

    Malaysia, privately frustrated by the inertia of regulatory and legal developments in the Islamic finance space in most of the Arab Middle East countries, is itself exploring new markets as part of its Malaysia International Islamic Finance Center (MIFC) initiative which aims to make Malaysia the global hub for sukuk origination, fund management, as a platform to raise funds and to effect cross-border transactions. Malaysian Islamic financial institutions, with a proven track record in consumer finance, asset management, fixed-income instruments and sukuk, are keen to impart their experience through advisory and management services to the Turkish market where sukuk origination and fund management is merely set to take off.

    Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the central bank, indeed organized an Islamic finance road show to Istanbul at the end of September 2011 which included bilateral briefings, a business seminar, an address on the future of Islamic finance by former Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamed and panel discussions on capital markets and fund management.

    The aim of the seminar was to strengthen economic, business and Islamic financial linkages for the mutual benefits of both countries.

    The theme of the road show and seminar, “Malaysia and Turkey: The New Silk Route in Islamic Finance — Strategies for Collaboration, Cooperation and Smart Partnership,” could not be more pertinent.

    BNM Deputy Gov. Muhammad bin Ibrahim, in his opening address, reminded that “the emergence of the ‘Silk Route’, a term coined by (BNM) Gov. Zeti Akhtar Aziz in 2006, opens up exciting prospects for countries and businesses.

    The new ‘Silk Route’ not only carries traditional trade of goods and services of old but also manufactured goods, technological innovation and know-how, portfolio flows, private equity investment and mobility of human capital and knowledge.

    Today, Islamic financial products and services are truly ‘new’ additions to this trade.”

    The truth is that Malaysia and Turkey have a natural fit which for various reasons have until recently been overlooked by both countries. Both countries are functional parliamentary democracies enjoying relatively political stability.

    Both countries have strong market economies with robust support from the respective governments, and flourishing private sectors, the backbone of their prosperity and progress.

    Islamic banking in both countries started uncannily at the same time in 1983 when the Islamic Banking Act under BAFIA was enacted in Malaysia and the special decree establishing Interest-free special finance houses was adopted in Turkey.

    As such both countries have established Islamic financial institutions, albeit the Malaysian sector is much bigger and today accounts for 22 percent of banking assets market share compared with almost 5 percent in Turkey.

    Turkey today is opening up to participation banking, the Turkish euphemism for Islamic banking. The market has its peculiarities, but it offers genuine opportunities in this space.

    It is no secret that politicians in Ankara prefer the dual banking model of Malaysia which sees the Islamic banking system develop side by side the conventional system and offering customers a choice as to which products they prefer, without imposing religious constraints or demands on the secular state.

    In a changing world, which is currently experiencing serious financial and economic challenges, the search for new alternatives that could mitigate the contemporary issues and challenges is imperative.

    This, maintained Deputy Gov. Ibrahim is where Islamic finance can fit in and play a meaningful role, especially with its emphasis on the attainment of socio-economic goals based on Shariah principles; on a strong linkage to productive economic activity to generate legitimate income; and on accountability, fairness and transparency.

    These are the values that could also serve as a resilient form of financial intermediation; as an effective intermediary for the conduct of global business including promoting greater intra-regional trade not only within Asia but between the various regions of emerging markets; and contribute to sustainable global economic growth and financial stability.

    He identified five key areas of possible cooperation between the two countries.

    The include sukuk origination, cross-border financial activities, fund management, joint product innovation, and Islamic finance education and research.

    “Malaysia,” he added, “welcomes the Turkish financial and business community to use its comprehensive and tested infrastructure with its extensive investor network as a platform to raise funds such as sukuk and Islamic syndication financing. The multi-currency Sukuk market in Malaysia is well developed and active with over 60 percent of the outstanding Sukuk in the world originating from Malaysia. Collaboration in issuance of sukuk would benefit Turkey, as the country’s aggressive diversification of its industrial base and services sectors will require huge financing needs that could be partially met through the Islamic financial markets.”

    At the same time, Malaysian market players stress the importance of sovereign Turkey issuing a benchmark Sukuk and are keen to participate in arranging and structuring any such issuance.

    Turkish financial institutions at the same time could network with Malaysian-based investors, and practitioners to facilitate more business opportunities who could help to structure funds for investment abroad, including into the emerging markets.

    Turkish banks and institutions could join Bursa Suq Al Sila’, the world’s first end-to-end Islamic multi-currency commodity trading platform, to facilitate liquidity management in the Islamic financial market.

    This fully-electronic platform facilitates sukuk structuring, Islamic financing and investment transactions including inter-bank placements and customer deposits, by applying the concept of Murabaha and Tawarruq.

    Since its establishment in 2009, 23 commodity trading participants from Malaysia, the Middle East and Europe have been registered with Bursa Suq Al-Sila’, contributing to the growth in its trading volume where 1370 trades were recorded in Q1, 2011 with a total value of $18 billion as compared to 728 trades in the final quarter of 2010 that totaled to an estimated $11 billion.

    Following the launch of the first Participation Bank Index by the Istanbul Stock Exchange earlier this year, the investment products introduced in the Turkish market have been expanded to include Islamic equity funds and products.

    Through collaboration and strategic alliances between Malaysian Islamic fund management companies and the participation banks in Turkey, the development and distribution of Shariah-compliant funds across borders could be made possible and new investment options to divest the savings of retail clients, as well as in the development of investment strategies to meet the needs of high net-worth individuals or sovereign wealth funds.

    This cooperation would be further enhanced should Bursa Malaysia and the Istanbul Stock Exchange launch a Mutual Equity Index for the two countries; and dual listings on the two exchanges.

    Malaysian and Turkish market players and institutions could jointly develop innovative products and investment instruments provide consultation and advisory services to support the development of Islamic finance.

    Similarly, collaboration can be explored between the International Center of Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and Turkish universities to develop human capital to support the participation banking sector in Turkey.

  • Turkey Seeks Closer Economic and Strategic Ties with China

    Turkey Seeks Closer Economic and Strategic Ties with China

    Turkey Seeks Closer Economic and Strategic Ties with China

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 186

    October 15, 2010

    By: Saban Kardas

    Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabo’s official visit to Turkey on October 7-8, marked a new phase in Turkish-Chinese relations. During the joint press briefing with Wen’s Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both leaders emphasized the importance they place on each other in their external relations and called their flourishing ties a “strategic partnership.” The parties signed eight agreements to develop further cooperation in various areas, including trade, transportation and combating terrorism (Anadolu Ajansi, October 9).

    Erdogan preferred to highlight the agreement to switch from dollars to their own currencies in bilateral trade. Turkey also signed a similar agreement with Russia and Iran, its other major trading partners. Through such bilateral agreements, Turkey appears determined to underscore its willingness to pursue independent policies in the global economic and financial order, which has been structured around US primacy. As such, Ankara seeks to readjust to a post-American-led world order, as the existing global order is currently in flux. On many occasions, Turkish leaders have emphasized that the gravity of the global economy has been shifting towards Asia, and that Turkey, which had been traditionally integrated into the Western world, now needs to readjust its economic and political priorities.

    It was therefore no surprise that Erdogan described the decision to use mutual currencies as a step to cement the strategic partnership between China, the economic giant which is likely to dominate the world economy in the years to come, and Turkey, an emerging economy which currently ranks 17th. China and Turkey have been the two major economies recovering rapidly from the global financial crisis, which may precipitate greater coordination between both powers in the context of the G-20 summit and other international platforms.

    However, there remains a major trade imbalance in China’s favor, which Turkey must quickly address. While Turkey’s imports from China were around $12.7 billion, Turkey’s exports amounted to only $1.6 billion in 2009. Ankara’s strategy is to redress this imbalance through the promotion of Chinese investments in Turkey, increasing tourism from China, and gaining greater exposure for Turkish products in China. Through more intensive cultural exchanges within the next three years, Turkey hopes to accomplish the latter objectives (Today’s Zaman, October 9). However, given China’s track record in achieving a positive trade balance with its partners and its low production costs, it remains to be seen how far Turkey can penetrate Chinese markets.

    Erdogan also referred to the prospects of joint projects in energy and nuclear power as yet another aspect of bilateral economic cooperation. Since Ankara signed an agreement with Moscow to construct the country’s first nuclear power plant, preparations have been underway for the construction of additional plants. While Turkey has been in talks with a South Korean company regarding the second plant (EDM, March 24), others, including Japanese companies, have recently approached Ankara on the same issue, raising expectations of growing competition in this sector. Given China’s recent drive to build numerous nuclear reactors, including some of the world’s most advanced, its experience in this field might make it a new entrant into the Turkish energy sector, though there is currently no concrete offer on the table. China has already won various large contracts to build major infrastructure projects, including modern railways in Turkey.

    History also plays a role in these flourishing ties, as references to the idea of reviving the historic Silk Road abound. Earlier, Iran also expressed interest in a similar idea, in the context of the Economic Cooperation Organization (www.irna.com, September 24). The Turkish side has worked on various projects to improve the transportation infrastructure in order that goods could flow easily between China and Turkey as well as through Central Asia (www.trt.net.tr, October 9). Such projects, in Ankara’s view, will also serve as the best remedy to bring stability to volatile Central Asia.

    However, historical factors also emerge as a source of friction in Sino-Turkish relations, as was demonstrated clearly during Wen’s visit. Following Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s historic visit to China in late June 2009, violent clashes in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region left many Turkic Muslim Uighurs dead in July 2009. Turkish leaders, which had come under pressure for ignoring the plight of Uighurs, moved to criticize Chinese policy in Xinjiang. Erdogan went as far as claiming that the killings amounted to “nearly genocide” (EDM, July 15, 2009). However, in the subsequent period, Sino-Turkish relations rapidly normalized, despite the efforts of the Uighur diaspora in Turkey to pressurize the government (EDM, August 19, 2009). Later, Turkey and China also started discussing cooperation in combating terrorism (Terrorism Monitor, October 1, 2009).

    Since China has represented the Uighur resistance as subversive terrorist activities, possibly with ties to the global al-Qaeda network, such cooperation with Turkey has been deemed valuable. In this context, Wen emphasized during the joint press briefing that they discussed boosting bilateral cooperation in fighting terrorism and extremism. Such talks, ironically, took place while Uighur activists organized demonstrations outside to protest against Wen’s visit and Ankara’s policy towards China (Hurriyet, October 9).

    Ankara’s position on Uighur demands, which might appear as backpedaling, mirrors Turkey’s earlier experience with the North Caucasus diaspora. In order to preserve the flourishing Turkish-Russian bilateral relationship, Ankara adopted a cooperative approach and restrained the activities of the Caucasian diaspora during the second Chechen war, a policy which continues to date (EDM, April 14). In the otherwise strong relationship with China, Uighur pleas for greater recognition are likely to remain a sore point. Yet, the Turkish government seems determined not to let the Xinjiang issue spoil growing economic and political ties with China.

    An apparent indication of this determination came earlier this month, when a Turkish daily reported that in late September and early October, the Turkish and Chinese air forces held joint drills in Turkey’s Central Anatolian province of Konya (Taraf, October 2). Although Turkey refrained from using its more advanced F-16’s and flew only F-4’s upon US expression of concern over protecting sensitive technology, its decision to deepen military ties with China to such a level, the first such exercise China has conducted with a NATO member, reveals much about Turkey’s new strategic priorities.

    https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-seeks-closer-economic-and-strategic-ties-with-china/

  • End of the Silk Road for historic trading hub of Kashgar

    End of the Silk Road for historic trading hub of Kashgar

     

    Today is the last day for residents of one of the last surviving ancient cities in China to claim a bonus for agreeing to move out to make way for the wrecking ball.

    After the offer expires, the only inducement may be force.

    Bulldozers are already crashing through the packed-mud walls of centuries-old homes. Yellow-helmeted workers toss bricks into wheelbarrows as they clear the rubble.

    The demolition of swaths of the Old Town of Kashgar is being carried out in the name of modernisation and safety. The famed trading hub on the Silk Road, on which caravans carrying silk and jade from China crossed with merchants from Central Asia bringing furs and spices, will effectively disappear.

    Walls throughout the town are stencilled with signs exhorting residents to support the makeover to prevent the damage wrought by last year’s massive earthquake in southwestern Sichuan province that killed 90,000 people.

    Many residents of the old quarter, members of the Muslim Uighur minority, are unconvinced.

    One old man, his beard white, taps a mud-and-straw wall. “These houses have withstood earthquakes for 2,000 years. They have wood inside to absorb the shock.” He gestures to a renovated building next door. “People are supposed to use these hard bricks. But look at the cement. There are gaps and it’s poor quality. Maybe this would fall more quickly.”

    City authorities have decided that most of these one and two-storey buildings must be razed. A small area visited by tourists seeking a flavour of Kashgar’s rich history will be preserved. Uighur residents, already distrustful of a Government that many regard as an occupation force, even doubt that.

    An elderly businessman, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution, said: “They don’t tell us anything. We don’t understand why they do this. Anyway, I don’t believe anything they say.” He is too frightened even to say who “they” are. He uses two letters, “GV “. He means the Government.

    Residents of the old city are reluctant to talk. Their fear is palpable. One gestures down the street. “The police are here. We must be careful.” In a house destined to disappear, a young girl slams the door into her rose-filled courtyard on visitors who ask about her home.

    The Government plans to spend $440 million (£270 million) to move 65,000 Uighur households – about 220,000 people – into modern housing. The aim is safer housing but other factors are at work.

    With a huge government stimulus package to boost the economy, authorities now have the money to tear down a warren of narrow alleys in which they fear Muslim Uighurs could foment separatist unrest. Days before last year’s Olympics two Uighurs rammed a lorry into a group of young police officers on a morning jog and then leapt out and attacked them with knives, killing 17. This month officials said that they had wrapped up seven terrorist cells in Kashgar.

    Non-governmental organisations are anxious that yet another remnant of China’s rapidly disappearing past is to vanish. The Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Centre has issued an appeal to save the Old Town, saying that the threat to Kashgar is more serious even than that to the Chinese capital’s old alleyways or to Lhasa.

    It said: “Primarily due to its relatively distant location, information… is very hard to come by, hence so little monitoring and criticism on the poor preservation work of the local government.”

    Wu Dianting, a Beijing professor of regional planning who has studied the city, says that such large-scale raw-earth towns are now rare anywhere in the world. He describes them as well adapted for the desert region, being warm in winter and cool in summer. He has asked city authorities to reconsider. “Demolition would be a terrible pity.”

    Families are less concerned about their cultural heritage than about having a roof over their heads, and one under which they have sheltered for generations.

    Those who can afford to strengthen their existing homes and add a second storey may stay. The elderly businessman said: “Most people don’t agree. But they are poor. They have to move.”

    The extent of resistance is reflected in the forest of banners and wall slogans exhorting support for the improvements. One offered a bonus of 200 yuan (£20) a square metre for those who left by June 6; those staying until June 18 will be eligible for only 100 yuan. After that they will get nothing.

    Not all are opposed. One elderly Muslim merchant in an embroidered skullcap chatted between stalls selling grilled mutton kebabs as flat bread baked in earthen ovens and artisans beat copper pots. He said: “The new houses are much cleaner. They have a bathroom and a kitchen. It’s good to have proper sanitation.”

    He will still come down to the Old Town to gossip with friends around the main Id Kah Mosque. His son shrugs about the prospect of life in a block of flats. “What can you do? What can you do? We have no choice.”

    Times Online