Addressing a CEO Forum attended by representatives from both Turkish and Dutch firms, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated, "Turkey is determined and resolved to raise trade volume with Holland to 15 billion dollars by the end of 2015."

Speaking at the Dutch-Turkish business forum held yesterday at the end of trips to Denmark and Holland, Erdoğan reminded that last year Turkey and the Netherlands celebrated their 400th year anniversary of upholding diplomatic relations. During the address, Erdoğan stated that the current joint trade volume between Turkey and Holland was seven billion dollars, which, he emphasized, they feel is insufficient. Erdoğan also mentioned that they practically declared this consencus during a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

THERE ARE 400,000 TURKISH CITIZENS IN HOLLAND

Stating that investors will be spearheading their 15 billion dollar target, Erdoğan reminded that there are 400,000 Turks currently residing in Holland. Commenting that nearly 2,100 Dutch-based investors firms have activities in Turkey, Erdoğan said, "They have a total 17 billion dollars of investments in Turkey, while Turkey has six billion dollars invested in Holland." When including investments by Turks from Holland, this figure reaches to 8.5-9 billion dollars," Erdoğan told the forum audience.