Turkey to invest $240 billion in energy, transportation

SINGAPORE - Anatolia News Agency

Zafer Çağlayan gestures during his speech at a fast-breaking meal held by the Turkey-Singapore Association. He promoted Turkey’s incentive scheme in Singapore.

Turkey will make $240 billion worth of investments in energy and transportation in the next 10 years, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said at a meeting yesterday to attract Singaporean businessmen with the new incentive scheme.

The amount of investments in the energy sector will exceed $130 billion in 10 years, while the high-speed train railway network will be expanded by an additional 10,000 kilometers, he said.

“We will be making more than $110 billion worth of investments in transportation,” he said, adding that the government wanted Singaporean businesses to take part in this investment spree.

Touching on the geostrategic significance of Turkey in terms of its proximity to potential markets, Çağlayan said there were 56 countries with a combined population of 1.5 billion within a 4-hour flight range of Turkey. 

In addition to this, Turkey itself poses an attractive market for foreign investors with its young population, he said.

“Turkey, with its average age of 29, is like open airspace for Europe, where the average age is 45. It is like a lung.”

Singapore is set to open two embassies, one of which will be established in Turkey, after a 15-year hiatus, said Çağlayan, adding that this indicated the importance Singapore attaches to the country.
Another important step is that Singaporean International Enterprise opened a liaison office in Istanbul in May, he said.
Çağlayan also told Turkish reporters in Singapore the previous day that a draft law to privatize the railway industry was currently on Cabinet’s agenda in a bid to lower costs, just like in the aviation sector.

Commercial counselors

Attending the Turkey-Singapore Business Forum yesterday, Çağlayan said Turkey would double the number of commercial counselors in the Asia Pacific region.

“The axis of the world economy has shifted [toward developing countries]. The share of developed countries in the world economy is gradually decreasing. Developing countries, including Turkey, will have more than a 60 percent share in the world economy in the next 10 years. Turkey, which is involved in commercial, political and economic cooperation across the world, gives a particular importance to the Asia Pacific region. We will increase the number of commercial counselors from 33 to 66 as an indication of this importance,” he said in a speech given at the forum.

S Iswaran, Singapore’s second minister for home affairs and second minister for trade and industry, said around 500 Turks lived and more than 50 Turkish firms were active in Singapore.

“Turkish businessmen come to Singapore to grow their businesses thanks to the valuable location of the country,” he said.