President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Gulf tour, which he had conducted with more than 200 business people on Monday, continues at full speed. The second destination for the business people, who had left Saudi Arabia with their hands full, was Qatar. Today, the business delegation will hold various meetings in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, and they stated in their statement to SABAH that the meetings were highly productive.
"We are at an important threshold."
ASKON President Orhan Aydın stated that in addition to the agreements signed between the two countries, there were individual collaborations between business representatives, and the resolution of diplomatic issues was of great importance. Aydın said: "I believe that good relations achieved through diplomacy will greatly benefit the economic relations between the two countries. We are at a very crucial threshold in terms of both direct investments to our country and the revival of the trade relations."
"Our expectations are high."
Davut Doğan, the Honorary Chairman of Doğanlar Holding, shared that the business world had received great interest in the Gulf, and he stated, "We will not return empty-handed, our interactions have been extremely productive so far." He emphasized that Saudi Arabia would regain its position as an important market, saying, "Before the difficulties arose, our group had 7 stores here, and this number had decreased to one after. We had a meeting with our franchise, and they want to bring this number back to its previous levels." RoofStacks Software Inc. CEO Burak Soylu also emphasized the magnitude of the potential in their sector and mentioned that they had made significant progress in a collaboration related to the utopian city NEOM.
"Tourism, defense, and healthcare."
DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) Türkiye-Qatar Business Council President Başar Arıoğlu stated that Qatar's strategic location in the Middle East had made it an important center for trade, finance, and investment. Despite being located at opposite poles of the Middle East geography, the two countries operate with feelings of mutual brotherhood and partnership. The sectors of tourism, defense, and healthcare are particularly significant in this regard.
Arıoğlu pointed out that the warm political relations between Türkiye and Qatar also had positive implications for economic relations. He then continued with, "Turkish investments in Qatar have been mainly focused on three sectors: hotel and restaurant, healthcare, and defense industries. Thanks to favorable conditions and low taxes, Turkish companies can establish highly advantageous production or distribution centers in Qatar. Besides aiming to become a significant financial center, Qatar also pursues the goal of becoming a production and trade hub in the region. It offers appealing financial incentives and free zones with flexible features to investors."
"The foreign trade targets are significant."
"As of the end of 2022, we achieved $1.5 billion in exports to Saudi Arabia, and our total foreign trade volume approached $6 billion. The goal, as stated by the President of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), Nail Olpak, is to rapidly increase this figure to $10 billion and then to $30 billion in a balanced manner. As for Qatar, our exports reached $1.5 billion by the end of 2022, with our total foreign trade volume standing at $2.2 billion. We aim to increase this figure to $5 billion in a balanced manner in the first stage. Our exports to the United Arab Emirates were $5.3 billion in 2022, and our total foreign trade volume was close to $10 billion. Our goal is to swiftly elevate it to even higher levels," Arıoğlu also said.
Limak's "engineer girls" in saudi arabia
Limak Holding and the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" in Jeddah yesterday for the implementation of the "Global Engineer Girls-Saudi Arabian Program" in collaboration with Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.
As part of this, the "Global Engineer Girls" initiative, which is the global extension of the "Türkiye's Engineer Girls" project carried out by Limak Holding since 2015, is planned to be launched in Saudi Arabia. Ebru Özdemir, the Chairperson of Limak Holding and Limak Foundation, said, "I am delighted that we have given the initiative a global perspective."
DEIK Treasurer and DEIK/Türkiye-Denmark Business Council President Berna Gözbaşı, the owner of BRN Yatak, stated, "Saudi Arabia's vision of 2030 is very exciting. As the business world, we want to play an active role in this process. The Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia says, 'This place is yours.' Alongside the government-level engagements, business connections are also being maintained. The short meetings of many business people participating in the delegation will turn into lasting collaborations."
