Spirit of Friendship Drives Korea-Turkey relations

It is my great honor to have the opportunity to host this eighth Joint Meeting of the Korean-Turkish, Turkish-Korean Business Councils in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of the Republic of Turkey.

First of all, I would like to welcome all the members of the Turkish delegation to Korea and express my gratitude to distinguished guests from both nations for your kind attendance today.

As you know well, Turkey and Korea have maintained a close relationship for decades.

Our attitude of mutual cooperation first originated with Turkey’s participation in the Korean War in 1950, and thereafter strengthened to reinforce our friendship across the areas of politics, economy, tourism and sports.

This spirit of partnership was well symbolized by the friendly soccer match between our two national teams during the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea. In particular, economic cooperation between our two countries has expanded greatly thanks to a positive climate of brisk trade and investment. For example, bilateral trade swelled to a sum of 1 billion dollars in 2002, marking a 20-percent increase from the previous year, before it leapt another 32 percent to reach more than $1.3 billion last year.

Meanwhile, Korea’s direct investment in Turkey now amounts to about $150 million, including a Hyundai Motor auto plant, an LG air conditioner factory, and a Mando auto parts factory.

Quite recently, I have been informed that several massive investments to Turkey are currently under review by Korean companies. In addition, we expect that Korean firms will work jointly with Turkish companies to participate in building the metro system of Istanbul.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased with the progress Turkey made last year by amending the Foreign Investment Law to address the needs of foreign investors more favorably, and at the likely prospect of Turkey joining the European Union in the near future. Under these circumstances, I do believe that more and more Korean companies will be racing to Turkey – especially in view of its geographical location bridging Asia and Europe.

In this regard, I hope that today’s join meeting will provide fresh impetus towards the implementation of present and future business opportunities. I also hope that the Korean-Turkish, Turkish-Korean Business Councils will continue to serve as a venue linking individuals from both countries with a keen interest in materializing joint projects.

Let me thank you once again for attending this meeting and I submit my sincerest hope for a successful conclusion to today’s proceedings.

It is my hope that over the course of these business councils, the participants from both Turkey and Korea were able to double their efforts to upgrade bilateral economic cooperation in quantity as well as in quality.

Looking forward to the next meeting, I wish everyone all the best and a safe journey back to Turkey.