US firm comes for $1 bln investment

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s Industry Minister Nihat Ergün (L) and Aksa’s Berkman (R) are seen at during an Istanbul ceremony yesterday. AA photo

U.S. Dow Chemical Company and Turkey’s Aksa chemical firm signed an agreement yesterday to invest $1 billion in the northwestern province of Yalova to manufacture carbon fiber and its related products.
This investment would give the company wider geographic reach, said Dow’s top executive.

“Turkey is an attractive country to invest in thanks to its strategic position between the East and West,” said Andrew N. Liveris, head of Dow Chemical Company, at the signing ceremony.

He said the company aims to increase its exports of carbon fiber and its products to the Middle East and North Africa. Each company will have a 50 percent share in the joint venture and the facilities in the northwestern province of Yalova will be expanded with new units to be built.

According to Liveris, Dow will invest $200 million into the business this year and will increase the investment volume to $1 billion in the next five years.

“Turkey will play an important role in the carbon fiber business as our expectation is that the use of carbon fiber will increase both in our country and neighboring countries,” said Mehmet Ali Berkman, chief executive of Aksa, at the meeting.

The investment is expected to create 1,000 new jobs for the people living in the region.

Foreign direct investment

Turkey attracted nearly $11.5 billion of foreign direct investment so far, said Turkey’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün while addressing participants.

He said more foreign direct investment is expected to be attracted by the country as some automotive and petrochemical firms assured him of their investing in Turkey during 2012. Ergün said Turkey’s foreign direct investment would reach a total volume of $12.5 billion by the end of this year. “Foreign direct investment to Turkey for next year will not be below this amount,” Ergün said.

The minister said Turkey would revise its incentive system in line with its own priorities and developments in the world. “Our new incentive model that we are working on will give priority to employment, giant projects, and sectors and will focus on reducing Turkey’s current account deficit,” the minister said. k HDN