Tag: Zafer Caglayan

Turkey’s Economy Minister Says Spain Should See Turkey as Springboard

MADRID (A.A) – Turkey’s economy minister said on Thursday that Spain should see Turkey as a springboard, and vice-versa due to their geographies.

Zafer Caglayan said Turkey was not a country that could be invested and sold goods only.

“Turkey is the second country in world in contracting industry, and Turkey would like to share advantages it has gained in this industry in Africa, Middle East and Caucasus with Spanish businessmen,” Caglayan told Spain-Turkey Investment & Cooperation Summit in Madrid, Spain.

Caglayan said Turkey would make significant energy, health, infrastructure and other investments, and many Turkish firms were investing in Spain and more than 400 Spanish companies had investments in Turkey.

The minister said Turkey was the sixth biggest economy in Europe and Spain was the fifth biggest economy in this continent.

“Turkey’s national income was 740 billion USD in 2010, and national income of the two countries totalled 2.2 trillion USD,” he said.

Caglayan said the 8 billion USD of trade volume between the two countries was too low, and this figure could easily be raised to 18 billion USD.

The minister said Turkey would invest 120 billion USD in energy till 2023, and 50 billion USD in transportation in ten years.

Caglayan said Spanish companies would continue their investments in high-speed train system in Turkey, and Spanish companies that had submitted bids for Marmaray project were advantageous.

Moreover, Caglayan said the only way out of global crisis was global cooperation, and Turkey’s year-end exports would reach 135 billion USD and Turkey aimed to raise it to 500 billion USD.

Caglayan said direct investments in Turkey would climb over 13 billion USD by the end of 2011, and 91 percent of direct investments in Turkey in 2011 were Europe-oriented.

Minister Caglayan said Turkey made public medium-term economic program earlier on Thursday, and it forecast 7.5 percent year-end growth, but 5 percent annual growth in 2013 and 2014.

Caglayan said Turkey would exert significant efforts to cut down its current account deficit forecast to 7 percent of the Gross National Product (GDP) from 9.4 percent till 2014, and diminish inflation to 5 percent from 8 percent.

Turkey would reduce its budget deficit to 1 percent by 2014, Caglayan said.

Caglayan also said Turkey would implement a new incentive system by the end of this year.

After the meeting, Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEEOE) signed a cooperation agreement.

via Turkey’s Economy Minister Says Spain Should See Turkey as Springboard, 13 October 2011 Thursday 17:17.

October 16, 2011
POSCO building stainless steel plant in Turkey

By Kang Seung-woo

POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang, center, poses with high-profile figures from the Turkish government, including Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, left, and Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergun, right, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s construction of a stainless steel plant in Izmit, Turkey, Wednesday. The plant, which is scheduled to be completed in April 2013, will have an annual capacity of 200,000 tons. / Courtesy of POSCO

IZMIT, TURKEY ― POSCO broke ground Wednesday for its $350 million cold-rolled stainless steel plant in Izmit, Turkey in its efforts to become a leading stainless steel maker.

The plant, which is scheduled to be completed in April 2013, will have an annual capacity of 200,000 tons.

It is the steel giant’s second investment in Turkey, following the launch of its POSCO-Turkey Nilufer Processing Center (TNPC), a comprehensive auto steel processing center, last year in Bursa Province.

“The plant will be equipped with one of the best cutting-edge facilities in the world and is expected to stably produce solid cold-rolled stainless steel,” POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang said in the ground-breaking ceremony, where Turkey’s Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergun and Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan were present.

The chairman also said that the building of the stainless steel plant will help Turkey to improve its trade balance, as the production from the new plant will replace its imports.

Currently, the Pohang-based company, which can nearly produce 3 million tons of stainless steel, is sitting third in terms of annual production capacity behind Acerinox and Taiyuan Iron and Steel, which has an annual capacity of 3.4 million tons and 3 million tons, respectively.

The mill will be established within the Izmit industrial complex, about 100 kilometers east of Istanbul that features major infrastructure such as electricity, road and natural gas, and its closeness to Derince Port will make it easy to bring in stainless hot-rolled plates, from Pohang Steelworks, necessary for the stainless cold-rolling mill.

With the Turkey stainless mill, POSCO, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, expects to play a leading role in the Eurasian country’s domestic stainless market, which entirely relies on imports ― 210,000 tons in 2009 and 326,000 tons in 2010 ― and capitalize on Turkey’s geographic advantage to take on the demands from neighboring areas including the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region.

According to the steelmaker, Turkey has swiftly evolved into heavy industry-centered mode, with global automakers like Renault, Fiat, Ford, Nissan and Honda clustering in the country.

In addition, Turkey, along with Italy and Germany, is the top three home appliance manufacturers in Europe, so there is strong demand for high-end stainless steel from them.

According to POSCO, Turkey and its neighboring nations are expected to fall shortest of supply of stainless steel in the world in 2015, with its supply likely to reach 40 million tons ― 90 million tons in lack of demand.

This groundbreaking comes as POSCO’s aggressive push for value-added stainless steel is on full display.

Last week, POSCO purchased shares of Southeast Asia’s largest stainless steel producer, Thainox Stainless, to boost its stake to 75 percent from 15 percent, while earlier this year, it expanded the capacity of its Chinese stainless steel joint venture, Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel (ZPSS), from 800,000 tons to 1 million tons per year.

Over the past year, POSCO has also taken over Asia Stainless Corp. in Vietnam and Taihan ST Corp. in Korea.

Earlier the day, the POSCO Chairman said that he will broaden its economic cooperation with Turkey.

“We have set our sights on Turkey because of its steady economic growth,” Chung told reporters in a press conference after meeting Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.

According to him, POSCO and its affiliates will make efforts to enter the Turkish markets, while Turkey is considering giving supports including tax benefits.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr

via POSCO building stainless steel plant in Turkey.

September 30, 2011
Turkey, UK ink info partnership agreement

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Turkey and the UK could cooperate in investing in third countries, the UK’s Business Secretary Vince Cable told journalists in Ankara on Monday. REUTERS photo

Turkey and the United Kingdom signed Monday an information partnership agreement in a bid to create new opportunities and develop new commercial ties between the two countries.

The agreement was signed between Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan and the U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable, following a meeting between Turkish and British delegations in Ankara.

“The information partnership agreement we signed today will create new opportunities and new commercial developments between Turkey and the U.K.,” Çaglayan said at the signing ceremony.

The target is to double the trade volume by 2015, he said. “More than 2,300 British firms have made investments worth $4.1 billion in Turkey while the number of Turkish firms investing in the United Kingdom has risen to 100.” The minister said trade volume between the two countries had reached $12 billion in 2010 and continued to rise in 2011. Turkey’s exports to the U.K. increased to $4.6 billion and imports totaled $3.4 billion in the period between January and July, Çağlayan said.

“Under the agreement, we will carry out several projects especially in energy and energy productivity [sectors]. Turkey is planning to make energy investments worth $120 billion in the next 10 years,” Çağlayan said.

Çağlayan also said Turkey and the U.K. would work on Turkey’s project to make Istanbul a regional finance center. “We want to benefit from the U.K.’s experiences in this regard.”

Cable said the U.K. considered Turkey a strategic partner. The U.K. wants to cooperate with Turkey especially in investing in third countries, he added.

September 28, 2011
Turkey Amenable to South Korea’s Nuclear Energy Proposals

By. Joao Peixe

Turkey’s Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan told reporters during a meeting with South Korean Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-Kyung in Seoul, “My ministry and the Turkish government are open to every proposal by South Korean companies over the issue of nuclear power plants.”

Turkey is expected to attract new investment from South Korea totaling $2.5 billion following the anticipated signing of a free trade agreement between the countries soon, Turkey’s Anadolu Ajansi reported.

Caglayan told journalists, “More investments will come to Turkey under the FTA. We have solved many problems during the visit. We have removed the obstructions in front of the FTA to a great extend. Hyundai earlier said it could not invest in Turkey as there was not a FTA. A Free Trade Agreement will enable many South Korean companies to invest in Turkey.”

Turkey intends to build two nuclear plants, one in Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast, to be constructed by Russia’s state-owned atomic power company ROSATOM with an estimated cost around $20 billion. The Akkuyu facility’s construction will start in two years, with its first reactor planned to come online and begin generating electricity in 2018. Turkey’s second nuclear plant is planned to be built in the Black Sea province of Sinop. Turkey had been negotiating with Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power company, the owner and operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima facility, which last week informed Turkey that it had withdrawn from the project, opening the way for potential South Korean involvement.

Source: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Turkey-Amenable-To-South-Koreas-Nuclear-Energy-Proposals.html

By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com

via Turkey Amenable to South Korea’s Nuclear Energy Proposals.

August 30, 2011
Caglayan: Turkey’s exports reached $65 bln since beginning of year

Caglayan said that our exports were $114 billion in 2010, exports have reached $65 billion since the beginning of the year and exports in the first 24 days of June have increased to $9.5 bln.

Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan said that Turkey’s exports had reached $65 billion since the beginning of the year.

“Our exports were $114 billion in 2010. Exports have reached $65 billion since the beginning of the year and exports in the first 24 days of June have increased to $9.5 billion.

We are going to exceed our middle-term target of $127 billion and break our record in exports by reaching $135 billion,” he said at the 18th General Assembly of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly in Istanbul.

Caglayan said that Turkey was the world’s 15th biggest economy according to the purchasing power parity.

“It is our biggest target to make Turkey one of the ten biggest economies of the world,” he said.

AA

via Caglayan: Turkey’s exports reached $65 bln since beginning of year | Economy | World Bulletin.

June 27, 2011
Turkey expects Azerbaijan to lift visas for businesspeople

Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan has said his government expects Azerbaijan to remove visa requirements for Turkish businesspeople to further increase trade between the two brotherly nations.

Speaking at the Turkey-Azerbaijan Business Forum organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) in Ankara on Friday, Çağlayan said Turkish businesspeople should be able to travel visa-free to Azerbaijan just as their Azerbaijani counterparts can to Turkey. “We are one nation in two states. Our history, culture, brotherhood, holy book and prophet are the same. Looking from that framework, there is nothing that separates us,” the minister said, adding that the trade volume between the two countries, however, is not reflective of those strong bonds. Last year, Turkish-Azerbaijani trade was recorded at $2.5 billion. Çağlayan said it should be easy to bring this number up to $10 billion. For him, a free-trade agreement between the two nations is a must to that end. In his speech, Çağlayan also gave political messages and underlined that Turkey will never approve any rapprochement with Armenia — which currently occupies 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh — before the ongoing issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia is resolved.

Also speaking at the same event, Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev drew attention to opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy. He also urged businesspeople from both countries to cooperate in third countries.

April 16, 2011