Sabah – India-based multinational Aditya Birla is planning to expand its investments in Türkiye, head of Türkiye’s official investment promotion agency has said.
“Aditya Birla is preparing for a second investment project in Türkiye worth USD 500 million..” Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Türkiye (ISPAT) President Ilker Ayci told reporters in Boston, USA where he is attending the 2012 BIO International Convention. The new investment will raise the company’s total investments in the country to more than USD 1 billion, he added. World’s leading viscose staple fiber producer had announced the building of a production plant for USD 510 million in Adana province late last year.
“Biotech event has been extremely fruitful in attracting attention to Türkiye’s pharmaceutical industry..”, the ISPAT President said when talking about the country’s investment atmosphere in general.
“Biotech convention is strategically important for us as Türkiye is among the top 5 pharma markets in the world. Turkish companies such as Nobel Ilac and Abdi Ibrahim received a large number of meeting requests from possible investors during the event..” he added. Türkiye’s growing pharmaceutical sector ranks 6th in Europe and 14th in the world in size and foreign interest to the market has been high. Last April, US biotechnology company Amgen acquired local generics manufacturer Mustafa Nevzat for USD 700 million.
Türkiye is also eyeing more foreign investments in other critical sectors such as automotive, Ayci noted. Germany’s VW Group is clearly aware of Türkiye’s potential in this regard and the Agency is in contact with the company about a possible investment in Türkiye, the ISPAT President said without providing further details. “ISPAT is working all over the world to promote Türkiye’s new incentive system..”, he added.
Türkiye’s new investment incentive scheme covers sectors that depend heavily on imports and promotes local production in energy, petrochemicals, automotive. It includes supports aimed specifically at auto makers such as; a car maker planning to produce at 100,000 vehicles a year is given the right to import goods free of customs tax for 15 percent of their capacity.