On January 5th, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a Turkish ministerial delegation came together with representatives of the French business community at a meeting in Paris held by Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF) International and supported by ISPAT.
During his address at the meeting, President Erdoğan offered members of MEDEF insights into Turkey’s investment environment and invited them to boost their investments in Turkey and benefit from the lucrative investment incentives that were available. Erdoğan pointed out that Turkey is the 13th largest economy globally and the 5th largest in Europe according to GDP at PPP, while France is the 5th largest economic power in the world and 2nd in Europe. Based on these metrics, President Erdoğan said, the current trade volume of USD 13.5 billion is below where it should be, adding that Turkey and France should strive to reach a volume of at least EUR 20 billion.
“The Turkish economy grew at a larger-than expected 11.1 percent in Q3 2017 and 7.4 percent overall in the first nine months of the year. We will likely to see an annual growth rate of over 7 percent for 2017, and this will once again make Turkey the fastest-growing economy among the G20 and OECD countries,” said Erdoğan.
The FDI amount of French companies in Turkey over the past 15 years has reached USD 7 billion. As of June-2017, around 1,500 companies with French capital operated in Turkey. In line with Turkey’s 2023 targets, French companies attended 13 tenders in various sectors, such as transportation, energy, and environmental technologies. Recent examples of cooperation between the countries’ companies include agreements signed between Airbus-Türksat, ASELSAN-ROKETSAN-EUROSAM, and the export credit agencies of Turkey and France. President Erdoğan’s visit to France also saw a declaration of will signed between Turkish Airlines and Airbus.