UK minister calls on Turkish investors

"Turkey is a very good gateway to the Middle East and the U.K. is a good gateway to Europe," U.K. Minister for Trade, Investment and Business Mervyn Lord Davies told a small group of journalists at a breakfast. " I think we need to put more efforts to build trade."

The U.K. minister attended a dinner late Tuesday with representatives of the Turkish private sector. Early in the day, he signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey's Industry Minister Zafer Çağlayan to establish a joint economic and trade committee.

"Turkey has to develop companies at the international level, using the true means of brand names and image on the global stage. This is a huge country with a braving economy but it's going to need some national champions that really take those brands and go worldwide," said Davies. He drew a parallel between the challenges facing Turkey and the United Kingdom. "We have got a very diverse economy in the U.K. 20 years ago we had old-fashioned industries that had to be replaced urgently É And now we are investing more in the right skills, the right partnerships, the right type of skilled workers," he said.

"I think the one thing we have done well in the U.K., and we have got the results published last week, is we are still the number one in terms of foreign direct investment and despite all the problems in the global economy we were up 11 percent last year. I think what we have done well to attract foreign investment in the U.K. and I think that foreign investment came because we are a very open market."

So far so good

The economic crisis that has shocked the global system was so extraordinary that it took a few months to realize its impacts, according to business circles. Economy chiefs look to the matter from the pessimistic end of the spectrum, raising serious concerns over the implications of the global crisis, but they also believe crises could be turned into a window of opportunity. According to many, the crisis tested Turkish economy, which passed through an economic slump in 2001, handled the current wave of global fluctuations well compared to most Western markets.

"The Turkish economy is so far so good," said a business figure who attended the meeting with the U.K. minister. "After the initial impacts of the crisis, the Turkish economy has started to grow despite the fact that it is not a huge growth period."