Turkish contracting companies undertook 261 overseas projects worth of $19.4 billion despite the political and economic problems experienced across the world last year, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said yesterday.

The contracting sector, Minister Pekcan stressed, has been successfully representing Turkey abroad for years, bringing serious income to the country in the process.

Underlining that the project amount reached is an important success achieved despite the many difficulties experienced in the international economic and political conjuncture, Pekcan also stated that this success can be considered as proof that Turkish contractors can put in a serious performance in difficult conditions abroad.

Pekcan stated that the average project cost of the sector was recorded as $75 million, citing a majority of projects undertaken in 2018 were listed as power plants with $3 billion; road, tunnel, and bridge construction with $2.9 billion; military facilities with $2.2 billion; railway with $1.9 billion; and airport construction with $1.6 billion.

"The fact that the housing sector in which our country undertook the highest number of projects in 2018 cumulatively is not in the top five, while sectors with more added-value are listed in the top five instead is an indication that the firms of our country are undertaking more qualified and niche projects abroad," she continued.

Pekcan said the Turkish contracting sector has reached a size of $378.9 billion abroad since 1972, adding the sector has undertaken close to 9,600 projects in 123 different countries. Pekcan further explained that the projects undertaken since 2002 amounted to $329.1 billion in total. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Sudan, Poland, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Algeria took the lead in the largest number of projects undertaken by the sector last year, Pekcan said. Pointing to the importance of taking a strong place in the markets of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Qatar once again, Minister Pekcan stated that reaching a significant size in markets like Sudan and Poland has raised their expectations for the future. The trade minister noted there are two European countries among the top 10 countries with the highest number of projects last year. "This is an indication that the contractors of our country have moved out of the traditional markets and added new markets to their portfolio," she noted.

Sharing data on the technical consultancy sector, Pekcan said the sector displayed a very important performance in 2018 in spite of the global challenges, reaching a size of $143 million in 61 projects. Pekcan also added the sector has so far reached a cumulative amount of $2.1 billion in projects undertaken in 110 countries.