Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba President Michael Evans on Sunday paid a visit to Türkiye's leading media group and Daily Sabah parent company, Turkuvaz Media.
"There is a great production power in Türkiye, which is the most advantageous country in the world in this sense," he told the media group's flagship publication Sabah newspaper.
Evans said that there are always volatilities in economies, and there are opportunities when one considers the long term.
"We will continue to invest in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tradesmen in Türkiye."
He said that they "will carry Türkiye’s production power and export potential to Europe and the Middle East."
He stressed that many G-20 countries have consumption power, but there is no production power.
"Countries with high technology infrastructure and production power will come to the fore. Since we see that Türkiye is very strong in these two areas, it will definitely be advantageous in the G-20," he noted.
Evans also commented on the questions on Türkiye's largest e-commerce company, Trendyol, which, backed by Alibaba, became Türkiye’s first "decacorn."
Asked whether Alibaba has a stock market plan in Türkiye with Trendyol, Evans said, "Going public has both advantages and disadvantages. I think it is advantageous to be a public company. But Trendyol management should decide this."
"If they want to go public, we will support them, as Trendyol grows," he said.
Trendyol Group President Çağlayan Çetin meanwhile stated that the company has many investors and that there is no need to go public and raise capital at the moment. "We do not have a short-term plan. If we achieve the growth targets we want in a short time, it may be in three to five years," he explained.
Trendyol, one of Türkiye’s best-known e-retail platforms, has received foreign investor backing and holds a leading position in the country’s fragmented e-commerce market.
Since 2018, Alibaba has been a strategic investor in Trendyol, which has been reported to have been planning a dual-listing initial public offering (IPO) in New York or London when its income from foreign sales reaches 30%-35% of its total revenue.