Turkey to propose investment incentives in 7 key sectors

The world's leading groups with a total turnover of $700 billion gave a message of "trust" in Istanbul. Promising investors that initially seven basic sectors will be supported, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said a "custom incentive system" will be adopted from now on. The 9th Investment Advisory Council was held in Istanbul under the aegis of Prime Minister Yıldırım on Thursday. Operating in 10 different sectors with a total turnover of $700 billion and employing a total of 1.5 million employees, giant international corporations from 14 different countries attended the meeting, during which future steps that will be taken in order to improve the investment environment were discussed.

Sharing the final declaration with the public following the meeting, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım gave good news to seven sectors. Suggesting that investment priority in many fields, especially in sectors with high added value, will be supported with respect to Turkey's economic policies. Yıldırım listed seven leading sectors including information, chemistry and logistics, in which exclusive special incentives will be put into effect.

Pointing out that there has been a transition from a ready-made incentive system to a custom incentive system, Yıldırım said, "We shared the relevant projects carried out by our government with the investors."

Stating that global investors have seen Turkey as a regional administration center for the upcoming period, Yıldırım said that the expectations the investors have and decisions they will make needs to regard not only making investments in Turkey, but also managing other regions such as Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and eastern Europe through Turkey.

"Some of them have already been taken care of. We will complete the rest in the next period," Yıldırım said.

Prime Minister Yıldırım said that despite the coup attempt on July 15, the Turkish economy did not go through a problematic period and the reforms in the economy have continued non-stop, and stressed that global investors confirmed once again that the attempted coup in Turkey did not cause any second thoughts in terms of investors' future plans and projects and they did not need to make any changes in their relevant decisions. Yıldırım also added that investors promised they will continue investing in Turkey.

Speaking prior to the closed-door meeting held at the Dolmabahçe Prime Ministry Office, Yıldırım stated the exchange is mutual and based on a win-win principle, and called out to the investors saying that, after they specify their investments, employment opportunities and contributions to the economy, then the government will provide them with the support they need. Noting that 2017 will be a year of investment flows, Yıldırım suggested that the economic structure was based on the plan to catch a growth rate of over 5 percent.

"We will not compromise on fiscal discipline," Yıldırım said.

Senior managers from the world's leading groups, including the World Bank Group's Vice President Cyril Muller, Alstom's CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, CEO of Alzahid Group Holding AbdulRahman Al Zahid, APM Terminals' Senior Vice President Teimen Meester, Bank of China's Senior Vice President Qiang Liu, Bombardier's President Laurent Troger, CEO of British Petroleum Tufan Erginbilgiç, CEO of Burgan Bank Eduardo Eguren, Gemalto's Senior Vice President Tommi Nordberg, Khazanah Nasional Berhad's Executive Director Dato' Noorazman Abd Aziz, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Corporation Ali Faramawy, CEO of Mitsui & Co.Europe Atsushi Kume, CEO of Mumtalakat Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji, Chairman of Nesma Saleh Al-Turki, Chairman of Qatar First Bank Abdulla Fahad Ghorab Al Marri, Renault's Senior Vice Chairman Denis Le Vot, CEO of Sberbank Herman Gref, Managing Director of Sojitz Europe Shigeya Kusano, Vice President of United Technologies Corporation David Hess, CEO of ZTE Corporation Zhang Renjun and Vodafone's Chief Executive of Vodafone Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific region Serpil Timuray attended the meeting.