ISPAT and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) held a seminar in Beijing on March 8. Türkiye’s Ambassador to Beijing Emin Önen and ISPAT President Arda Ermut invited Chinese attendees to step up their investments in Türkiye, while ISPAT Project Director A. Sami Yavuz presented on Türkiye’s investment climate.
During the seminar, ISPAT President Ermut pointed out that China is a very important country for Türkiye, and the relations between the two countries are on a better footing now than ever before. He further noted that Türkiye works closely with China on the “One Belt-One Road Initiative”, which will be aligned with Türkiye’s Middle Corridor plan. Drawing attention to SMEs, which are the backbone of the Turkish economy in terms of production and employment, but which have limited technological and financial capabilities, Ermut said that there is a considerable amount of opportunity for mergers and acquisitions as well as joint ventures between Chinese companies and Turkish SMEs.
The ISPAT delegation, together with Ambassador Önen, also held a meeting with Liu Dianxun, China Investment Promotion Agency General Manager, to discuss joint efforts to promote investment opportunities in the two countries. The Turkish delegation also visited Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), of which Türkiye is one of the founding partners, and exchanged views with AIIB officials about financing infrastructure projects in Türkiye.
China was the top country in Türkiye’s imports and was 15th in its exports in 2017. Today there are more than 900 companies operating with Chinese capital in Türkiye. ISPAT has had a permanent presence in China since 2008.