TURKISH-AMERICAN ECONOMIC AND TRADE RELATIONS EXPECT AN ACTIVE YEAR 2024 WITH A POSITIVE AGENDA

Türkiye, with its advanced private sector culture, geographical location, and young population, has the potential to become a safe home base for American companies to conduct all their operations in the region

As the Türkiye-US Business Council (TAIK), we organized the 13th Türkiye Investment Conference in New York on September 19-20 on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

The intense interest from U.S. investors on both days shows that Türkiye is back on the Western radar and that trade and economic relations between Türkiye and the US will gain serious momentum in the coming period. On September 19, the first day of the 13th Türkiye Investment Conference, hosted by Goldman Sachs, we brought together our Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat, and our Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek with fund and portfolio managers. As the Minister of Trade stated in his speech, the Turkish economy will instill confidence in international investors in the coming period with the priority target of low inflation, financial discipline, and structural reforms.

Likewise, our Minister of Treasury and Finance, who shared Türkiye’s new ‘Medium Term Program’ with Goldman Sachs clients, underlined that Türkiye will continue with a rule-based, predictable fiscal policy, reinforcing the perception of Türkiye, which is on the rise again in the West. At the end of the conference, which was attended by nearly 100 funds and portfolio managers, meetings were held between Türkiye’s leading companies and Goldman Sachs clients.

I believe that this very productive meeting, where we explained the Turkish economy and the strength of the Turkish private sector, will contribute to the inflow of funds from the West to our country. On September 20, the day of the gala dinner of the 13th Türkiye Investment Conference, we brought together our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with leading U.S. business leaders and Fortune 100 executives in a closed meeting with limited participation.

More than 40 U.S. business people attended the gala dinner, where our President emphasized in his speech that Türkiye is an important production and service base for American companies in the region, which is an important message that we have frequently voiced. With its advanced private sector culture, geographical location, and young population, Türkiye has the potential to become a secure home base for American companies to conduct all their operations in the region. It is very pleasing to see that American companies operating in Türkiye have recognized this potential in recent years and have started to manage their activities in regions such as Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East through their headquarters in Türkiye.

Another good development that the Investment Conference has been instrumental in is that we signed an agreement with the American Turkish Business Roundtable (ATBR), which was designated as the representative of TAIK Washington D.C., in the presence of our President. Founded under the chairmanship of General James Jones, former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama, ATBR’s board of directors includes many valuable names that will contribute to the development of bilateral economic and trade relations. In the coming period, we will carry out activities for various sectors in cooperation with TAIK-ATBR. After our successful 2-day New York program, we believe that there will be a significant movement not only in investment-oriented but also in commercial activities between the two countries as of 2024. Our goal of a $100 billion trade volume between Türkiye and the US is no longer far away. While US imports from the world increased by 40 percent in 2022 compared to 2020, imports from Türkiye increased at a very fast rate of 75 percent. The increased demand for Turkish goods outpaced the demand for Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Vietnamese, and Vietnamese goods, excluding Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, which was the 29th largest importer of U.S. goods in 2020 and rose to 25th place in 2022.

In order to increase our exports and to better introduce Turkish goods to the U.S. market, Turkish companies, especially Turkish Airlines (THY), are participating in more than 150 fairs, and we are planning to participate in many fairs, especially SelectUSA, with our business people. A vibrant and positive 2024 awaits Turkish-American economic and trade relations. As TAIK, we will bring together our Minister of Industry and Technology, Mr. Fatih Kacır, with fund companies based in San Francisco, especially those investing in the technology sector, hosted by Meta in January. We will also build a bridge between the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Türkiye and our very successful Turkish executives who hold senior positions in many technology companies operating in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Then, on the occasion of the CERAWeek conference, one of the world’s leading energy events, which will take place in Houston in March 2024, we will bring together our T.R. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Mr. Alparslan Bayraktar with the energy sector of Texas.

We will have the opportunity to examine the investments of Turkish companies based in this state, where Türkiye invests the most. In the coming period, we plan to carry out many activities similar to what we have done in California and Texas, with a state focus, in various places such as Florida and Georgia. The revitalization of Türkiye-U.S. relations will be realized not only through our unilateral actions but also through the initiatives of the U.S. side. In May next year, it was announced that “Trade Winds”, the largest trade delegation of the U.S. government, will take place in Türkiye. I would like to underline that this is the second time it has taken place in Türkiye in the last 15 years. There is no other example of this repetition.

The fact that Türkiye has been chosen for this event, which is held in a different country every year, is an important indicator for the future of trade relations between the two countries. With the participation of US Ministers and Deputy Ministers, we expect an average of 50 American companies to come to our country. I invite all our private sector to closely monitor this program.