Turkey can receive 'significant' Singaporean investment

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey has the potential to receive a significant share of investment from Singapore, the head of the Turkey-Singapore Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey said Wednesday.

Annual bilateral trade between Turkey and Singapore is insufficient at roughly $800 million, Suha Gucsav noted during a seminar on a Turkey-Singapore free trade agreement (FTA) organized by the DEIK.

The seminar aims to improve bilateral cooperation in investment and trade by raising awareness about the free trade deal between the two countries, stressed Gucsav.

The FTA between the two countries was signed in 2015 and became valid in 2017.

Noting that Singapore is among the few Asian with whom Turkey has a foreign trade surplus, Gucsav said Singapore is important "for reaching Asian countries such as China and India".

Senior Turkish trade official Cagatay Ozden said Turkey's pact with Singapore could serve as a model for new FTAs with other countries.

He added: "Turkish goods can be exported customs-free to Singapore, with its five-million-strong population and 20 million annual tourists."

Singaporean ambassador to Turkey Jonathan Tow Shen Han, said the two countries should see each other as regional hubs.

Firms from Singapore can see Turkey as a door for different markets and regions and Turkish companies can use Singapore to reach south and southeast Asian countries, he underlined.

Han noted that between Turkey and Singapore, a more transparent and efficient bilateral trade system can be established through the FTA.