” Turkey is, in particular, interested in new joint ventures and investment from northern European countries, Arcan told the Turkish Daily News. “?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office “Although most foreign trade is continuing steady the current market recession and recent reduction in consumer demand in some European Union countries have led to less demand from the EU market. We are now looking to boost foreign trade and business volumes by finding new partners in the Nordic region,” she said. Turkey currently exports to more than 100 countries, but 60 percent of its foreign trade volume takes place with EU countries – consisting mostly of industrial and automotive goods, manufactured products, textile products, machinery, consumer goods and consumer electronics. In 22 sectors Turkey’s export volume exceeds $1 billion a year. “Turkey is an attractive trade partner and potential place to operate also because of its prominent role in the region: Last year it attracted some 65 percent of all trade in the region, consisting of Central Asia and the Middle East,” noted Arcan. Turkey is focusing its efforts on increasing foreign direct investment in research and development (R&D) in particular, said Arcan. “German, Dutch and British companies are among major investors in Turkey. But Turkey would like to attract more investors especially from Sweden, Finland, Norway, especially in the area of IT and high technology, as well as R&D,” Arcan said. The new R&D legislation makes it is easy for foreign firms to set their R&D centres in Turkey, Arcan said. “The recently revised legal framework for R&D is really encouraging for R&D firms who would like to operate in Turkey. Its benefits are notable, among them the exemption of R&D researchers from personal income tax. We expect main international technology companies to establish their research bases in Turkey in the future,” Arcan said Source: TurkishDaily News.com”
Date:5/7/2008
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