India-Turkey-CIS forum to focus on trade, JV & investments

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India-Turkey-CIS forum to focus on trade, JV & investments

New Delhi: With strengthening South-South synergies once again attracting global attention, emerging economies, including India, Turkey and CIS countries, which are showing sustained economic growth and a sharp rise in FDI inflows, offer excellent opportunities for mutual economic cooperation. Industry body Ficci, Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK), and apex chambers of CIS countries are, under the aegis of the ministry of commerce, organising the first India-Turkey-CIS business forum in Istanbul, Turkey, next month.

The forum will bring together delegates from India, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Moldova to collaborate in the areas of trade, joint ventures and investments.

Minister of commerce and industry Anand Sharma will lead a high-level delegation of senior officials and business representatives for the two-day meet starting August 24. " The business forum will be an ideal platform for Indian companies to explore the possibilities of exporting their products to European and CIS markets through Turkey," said sources. Ficci officials say, "This will also provide an opportunity to decision makers from CIS countries and Turkey to partner Indian companies in a wide range of areas, including healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture & agri-processing, tourism, entertainment, IT & telecom, gems & jewelry, textile and logistics."

The two-day event will focus on a series of engaging sessions; government-to-business roundtables; exclusive B2B meetings with industry captains; sessions on financing investments in the regions and seek to connect over 300 potential investors, buyers, funding agencies and investment promotion agencies of the region.

 

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India, CIS countries eye cooperation with Turkey - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Trade between Turkey and India reached $3 billion in the last two years, Chairman of India-Turkey Business Council G.B.S Raju said Tuesday.

India and Turkey have managed to overcome the difficulties caused by the global economic crisis, said Raju, who is also the chairman of GMR International Group. "The trade statistics available for the first six months already tell a different story. While India's exports have grown by 97 percent, Turkey's exports to India have grown 38 percent," he said, speaking at the India-Turkey-CIS Business Forum, organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, in Istanbul.

He said that India attaches great importance to partnerships with Turkey and Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, countries, and had also invited Turkish companies to take a place in Indian infrastructure projects. "We are aware of the impressive global ranking of Turkish construction companies. India is a land of infrastructure. India is planning to invest over $500 billion in infrastructure between 2007 and 2012. This figure will eventually reach $1 trillion."

Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün underlined the growing economic potential of Turkey, India and CIS countries in his speech at the forum. "There are important changes in the world, eastern countries are gaining more importance day by day," he said. There are various trade opportunities, which would "pave the way for the success and growth [for both Indian and Turkish businessman]," said Tanıl Küçük, the chairman of Istanbul Chamber of Industry.

According to estimates, CIS countries will have grown by 4.3 percent, India by 9.4 percent and Turkey by 7 percent by the end of this year, he said. Arcelor Mittal, which holds a 50 percent share in a rolling mill plant worth of $500 million it established with Turkish group Borusan Holding, Polyplex, GMR-Limak and Hobi Cosmetics all recently agreed to run joint operations with Dabur India Limited. The groups represent some of the strongest investment opportunities both in India and Turkey.

Turkish export to India reached $411 million by the end of last year, while imports totaled $1.9 billion. In the first half of this year, Turkey exported goods worth $257 million to India and imported goods worth $1.89 billion, according to the Prime Ministry's undersecretariat of foreign trade.