Turk PM urges Arab businessmen to invest in Turkey

"We would be very happy to see more Arab entrepreneurs and investors in our country," Erdogan said at the Third Turkish-Arab Economy Forum (TAF'08) in Istanbul. Erdogan said he believed the forum would contribute to the economic development, welfare and stability of the region's countries. "Turkey aims at acting as a bridge of development and prosperity between the Arab world and western countries, and our membership in the European Union will be a major step taken toward peace and stability in the region," Erdogan said.Erdogan also stressed Turkey and Arab states should act together to solve the problems in the Middle East together. "The Turkey and Arab states bore great responsibility in the solution of problems encountered in the Middle East and the surrounding region. Problems of our region are not unsolvable. We can solve all of the problems, overcome all hardships and obstacles through solidarity," he said.Turkey's Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, also attending the forum and called on Arab businessmen to invest in Turkey, said a total of $52 billion foreign capital entered to Turkey within the last three years and the expectation for the coming three year was another $53 billion. "Arab countries have invested $5 billion during this period, when we bear in mind the total amount of their $2 trillion international investments, we can see this is not a significant amount," he said, adding Arab investment would rise to $10 billion in the case bureaucratic obstacles are removed.Unakitan also said we are going to give businesses from Arab countries the opportunity to come to Turkey and establish their own companies. "Arab countries can produce the food stuffs they need here in Turkey and then ship the products back to their own countries," he said.This year's forum organized by the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board in association with the Arab League is expected to focus on finance, investment relations, energy and tourism.Besides Erdogan, Prime Ministers of Palestine Salam Fayad, Syria Mohammed Naji Otri, Qatar Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir Al-Thani, Somali Hassan Hussein and Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Berham Salih, attended to the forum.Photo: AA