Tuesday, 18 August 2009

BRITISH INVESTMENT IN TURKEY

The latest blasts in Turkey are likely to make UK companies wary of investing in the country, a business leader warned today.

Tony Gunn, director of Inturecede, a UK body promoting bi-lateral trade between the two countries, said: "Businesses already committed to working in the country are likely to continue, but those considering doing the same will probably now take a step back.

"It will be a normal human reaction for businesses as for anyone else."

The Department of Trade said there were more than 300 British owned companies in Turkey and 125 in and around Istanbul.

UK exports to Turkey were worth £1.1 billion and imports £1.7 billion between January and August this year.

Automotive investments

Mr Gunn, based within the European Programme Integration Centre at Coventry University, said most of work he was involved with in Turkey was around Ankara and Izmir.

About 70% of the trade was British companies investing in Turkey with the biggest sector being automotive, followed by textile and manufacturing parts.

British supermarket chain Tesco recently bought a small chain of stores called Kipa on the Aegean coast in Turkey.

A spokesman said: "We always do our homework when we enter markets and security is one of the things we look at

"Turkey is a very big county so we are in a completely different region than Istanbul."

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About British Turkish Society

The British Turkish Society was founded in 2004 as a bridge between the two communities. It is our aim to establish a long lasting connection between British and Turkish cultures. Despite the fact that a well developed country such as the UK and a country like Turkey, which is trying to make it to the 21 st century without forgetting its cultural backgrounds, may seem to have very little in common, it is true that the coexistence of cultures enrich one another. Moreover, we cannot dismiss the increasing number of British people living in Turkey and the Turkish people living in Britain as well as the number of intercultural movements existing in both countries. Therefore, we believe that the intellectual and modern west should meet with poignant east on a ground that west east should be connected in a global world and for the peace of humanity.