TUSKON expects to support its members who engage in business abroad through the new cooperation agreement with the RSPP, a union representing large Russian companies including Gazprom and Lukoil.
Speaking at a press conference in İstanbul on Thursday ahead of the signing ceremony, RSPP Chairman Alexander Shokhin expressed his hope that the deal would add new momentum to relations. Shokhin said around 20 agreements were signed during his previous visit to Turkey in August. "Our duty as businessmen is to carry our mutual relations a step further. We believe we could reach a mutual trade volume of $100 billion with Turkey even under the current circumstances," said Shokhin. The RSPP head asserted that as countries with economies heavily dependent on exports both Russia and Turkey have suffered serious problems as production fell due to contracting global demand amid the ongoing global financial crisis.
He said there were many areas in the economies of Turkey and Russia that complemented each other, adding that relations should go beyond mere consultation and parties should seek ways to support one another. Shokhin said Russia had opened its doors to foreign investments in the area of energy as well other investment fields. He said the business opportunities in the area of energy were not restricted to the existing Blue Stream pipeline, running from Russia to Turkey beneath the Black Sea, and the South Stream project, which aims to transport Russian gas under the Black Sea through Eastern Europe to Austria and Italy, as he noted that Lukoil, which recently purchased Akpet, a Turkish oil distribution company, was planning to build a petrochemical facility in Turkey.
Underlining that Russia is one of the largest economies in the world and has rich natural resources, TUSKON Chairman Rizanur Meral said they expected to establish a healthy ground on which to build future mutual projects with Russia's business world. “As TUSKON, we place a heavy emphasis on building close trade relations with Russia and are glad to see that our cooperation has reached a new dimension now.” Meral also noted that the approaching 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Russian city of Sochi offer vast opportunities for Turkish contractors, adding that trade relations would gain momentum in the fields of energy, natural gas, real estate and the production sector.
An independent nongovernmental organization, RSPP has a membership base of over 120 regional alliances and industry associations representing key industries of the economy including the fuel and energy industry, the machine-building industry and the investment-banking sector as well as the defense, construction, chemical and consumer goods industries.
