Ulusoy: Iran Is A Very Important Market

Speaking to A.A correspondent, Ulusoy said that business circles in Turkey had to focus on the Iranian market. He said that the Iranian market which developed recently created very important opportunities for Turkey.

Noting that Iran was a country having strategic importance and that Turkish businessmen should orient themselves to that market, Ulusoy said that the relations between the two countries had a stagnation period due to bureaucratic and economic reasons. ”We’ve overcome this negative period by the Turkish-Iranian Business Council we founded in October, 2000. The transformation and developments recorded in Iran in the last five years also showed themselves in economic field. Iran has become a very important market for Turkey with its growing and developing structure,” Ulusoy said.

Ulusoy pointed out that companies having fully foreign capital could be set up in Iraq on condition that they had to export and buy the raw materials from Iran, adding that ”Iranian companies are warm to the idea of making cooperation with foreign partners to draw technology and capital to the country. Iran does not apply visa to Turkey. If certain problems are overcome, it is possible to say that a promising future is waiting for the two countries in trade,” he said.

Ulusoy pointed out that Turkish businessmen could not yet grasp the commercial potential of Iran and reliability of Iran in trade.

”Only in Istanbul, there are 465 companies of Iranian origin. Turkey does not have even 50 companies in Iran. The investment Turkish businessmen will make in Iran will ease their access to the Middle East and Central Asia,” Ulusoy said.

Pointing out that there were certain problems in issues such as banking, customs laws, guarantee contracts, border gates, cargo services between the two countries, Ulusoy stated that they were trying to sort out these problems as the Turkish-Iranian Business Council.

Ulusoy added that the Council would participate in the Tabriz-Iran International Investment Conference and Fair between 12-14 August, 2003, noting that they would hold contact with various ministries and business circles for further improvement of economic relations between the two countries.